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qualifying person who regularly spends at least 8 hours a day in your home. If the care was provided by a dependent care center, the center must meet all applicable state and local regulations. A dependent care center is a place that provides care for more than six persons (other than persons who live there) and receives a fee, payment, or grant for providing services for any of those persons, even if the center isn't run for profit. You can include amounts paid for items other than the care of your child (such as food and schooling) only if the items are incidental to the care of the child and can't be separated from the total cost. But don't include the cost of schooling for a child in kindergarten or above. You can include the cost of a day camp, even if it specializes in a particular activity, such as computers or soccer. But don't include any expenses for sending your child to an overnight camp, summer school, or a tutoring program. Medical Expenses Some disabled spouse and dependent care expenses can qualify as medical expenses if you itemize deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040). However, you can't claim the same expense as both a dependent care expense and a medical expense. See Pub. 502, Medical and Dental Expenses, and Pub. 503 for details. Who Can Take the Credit or Exclude Dependent Care Benefits? You can take the credit or the exclusion if all five of the following apply. 1. Your filing status may be single, head of household, qualifying widow(er) with dependent child, or married filing jointly. If your filing status is married filing separately, see Married Persons Filing Separately, later. 2. The care was provided so you (and your spouse if filing jointly) could work or look for work. However, if you didn't find a job and have no earned income for the year, you can't take the credit or the exclusion. But if you or your spouse was a full-time student or disabled, see the instructions for lines 4 and 5, later. 3. The care must be for one or more qualifying persons. See Qualifying Person(s), earlier. 4. The person who provided the care wasn't your spouse, the parent of your qualifying child, or a person whom you can claim as a dependent. If your child (including stepchild or foster child) provided the care, he or she must have been age 19 or older by the end of 2021, and he or she can't be your dependent. 5. You report the required information about the care provider on line 1 and, if taking the credit, the information about the qualifying person on line 2. Married Persons Filing Separately Generally, married persons must file a joint return to claim the credit. If your filing status is married filing separately and all of the following apply, you are considered unmarried for purposes of claiming the credit on Form 2441. • You lived apart from your spouse during the last 6 months of 2021. • Your home was the qualifying person's main home for more than half of 2021. • You paid more than half of the cost of keeping up that home for 2021. If you meet all of the requirements to be treated as unmarried and meet items 2 through 5 listed earlier, you can generally take the credit or the exclusion. If you don't meet all of the requirements to be treated as unmarried, you can’t generally take the credit. However, you can generally take the exclusion if you meet items 2 through 5. Example. Amy separated from her spouse in March. She isn't separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance agreement and uses the married filing separately filing status. Amy maintains a home for herself and Sam, her disabled father. Sam is permanently and totally disabled and unable to care for himself. Because Sam earns $5,600 in interest income, Amy can't claim him as a dependent (his gross income is greater than $4,300). And, because Amy isn't able to claim Sam as a dependent and she is still married as of the end of the year, she can't use the head of household filing status. Amy's filing status is married filing separately and Sam is a qualifying person for the child and dependent care credit. Because of the following facts, Amy is able to claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses even though Amy uses the married filing separately filing status. • Amy didn't live with her spouse for the last 6 months of the year. • She has maintained a home for herself and Sam (a qualifying person) since she separated from her spouse in March. • She maintains her own household and provides more than half of the cost of maintaining that home for herself and Sam. • Amy pays an adult daycare center to care for Sam to allow her to work. Line Instructions Line A If your filing status is married filing separately and you meet the requirements to claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses, you must check the box on line A. By checking the box, you are confirming that you meet the requirements listed earlier under Married Persons Filing Separately. Line B For 2021, your credit for child and dependent care expenses is refundable if you, or your spouse if married filing jointly, had a principal place of abode in the United States for more than half of 2021. This means you, or your spouse if married filing jointly, must have your main home in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia for more than half of the tax year. Your main home can be any location where you regularly live. Your main home may be your house, apartment, mobile home, shelter, temporary lodging, or other location and doesn’t need to be the same physical location throughout the tax year. If you're temporarily away from your main home because of illness, education, business, or vacation, you're generally treated Instructions for Form 2441 (2021) -3-