Form 2441 for 2026: a higher credit rate and a bigger exclusion

The IRS draft 2026 Form 2441 (created April 30, 2026) prints $7,500 ($3,750 married filing separately) on line 21 as the maximum dependent care benefit exclusion, subject to the employer plan’s own limit. The 2025 form used $5,000 ($2,500 married filing separately).

The 2026 Form 1040-ES says the maximum credit rate rises from 35% to 50%, while the expense caps stay at $3,000 for one qualifying person and $6,000 for two or more. The line 8 decimal table that sets the rate by AGI is in the instructions, which were not published when this page was checked.

• Employers: will the dependent care assistance plan raise its limit to match? The exclusion cannot exceed what the plan allows.
• Parents: how much was paid through a dependent care FSA, and how much out of pocket?
• Provider names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers, as before.