Maximise childcare tax savings across three strategies: a Dependent Care FSA alone, the Child & Dependent Care Tax Credit alone, or the optimal combination. FICA savings on the FSA contribution are included, exactly as the ported source models them.
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2026 rules: the DC-FSA exclusion cap is $7,500 ($3,750 on a separate return by a married individual); IRC §129(a)(2)(A) as amended by Pub. L. 119-21 §70404, effective for taxable years beginning after 12/31/2025. The CDCTC applies a percentage to up to $3,000 ($6,000 for 2+ qualifying individuals) of expenses not offset by the FSA; IRC §21(c)(2), the limit reduced by the IRC §129 exclusion. For 2026 the applicable percentage starts at 50%, falls 1 point per $2,000 of AGI over $15,000 to a 35% floor, then falls 1 point per $2,000 ($4,000 joint) over $75,000 ($150,000 joint) to a 20% floor; IRC §21(a)(2) as amended by Pub. L. 119-21 §70405. FICA savings on the contribution are the 7.65% employee share (IRC §3101(a) 6.2% + §3101(b)(1) 1.45%). Sources: IRC §129; IRC §21; IRS Pub. 503; Pub. L. 119-21 §§70404-70405.
Income & Tax Profile
FSA Availability & Determinism Inputs
Which rules, which sources
Compliance flags
Execution hash
Artifact (OCG v0.4 draft)
Port of ApexLogics AL-137 / display_number #130 “Dependent Care FSA vs. CDCTC Optimizer” → AINumbers art-765. Draft for a trusted builder; not registered, not reviewed, not tax advice.
Copy this paragraph into Claude, OpenClaw, or any MCP-aware agent to run this exact tool, with this sample, and verify the artifact.
Run the AINumbers MCP tool `estimate_dc_fsa_cdctc_split`. Task: Compare a Dependent Care FSA (IRC section 129 exclusion) against the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (IRC section 21) plus the optimal combination, with FICA savings on the contribution.
Call it with arguments: {"policy_parameters":{"as_of":"2026-10-13","filing_status":"mfj","agi":95000,"marginal_rate_pct":22,"state_rate_pct":5,"num_children":2,"childcare_cost":18000,"fsa_available":true,"fsa_contrib":0}}
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Open the tool with the sample prefilled: https://ainumbers.co/chaingraph/art-765-dependent-care-fsa-cdctc-optimizer.html#p=v1.H4sIAAAAAAAA_wGvAFD_eyJhc19vZiI6IjIwMjYtMTAtMTMiLCJmaWxpbmdfc3RhdHVzIjoibWZqIiwiYWdpIjo5NTAwMCwibWFyZ2luYWxfcmF0ZV9wY3QiOjIyLCJzdGF0ZV9yYXRlX3BjdCI6NSwibnVtX2NoaWxkcmVuIjoyLCJjaGlsZGNhcmVfY29zdCI6MTgwMDAsImZzYV9hdmFpbGFibGUiOnRydWUsImZzYV9jb250cmliIjowfb4wnWKvAAAA