2441N: Nebraska Child and Dependent Care Expenses (2025)

Who files this form

Use 2025 Form 2441N if your federal adjusted gross income (AGI) is $29,000 or less and you are claiming Nebraska’s refundable child and dependent care credit.

The eligibility requirements include:

• Your filing status is single, head of household, qualifying surviving spouse, or married filing jointly. Special rules apply if you file separately.
• The care allowed you, and your spouse if filing jointly, to work or look for work. If you did not find a job and have no earned income for the year, you cannot take the credit or exclusion. Special earned-income rules apply to full-time students and people who are disabled.
• The care was for one or more qualifying persons.
• The care provider was not your spouse, the parent of your qualifying child, or someone you can claim as a dependent. If your child provided the care, that child must have been at least 19 by the end of 2025 and cannot be your dependent.
• You report the required provider information on line 1 and, when claiming the credit, qualifying-person information on line 2.

Married filing separately: To claim the credit, you must meet the other eligibility requirements and be treated as unmarried. This means you lived apart from your spouse during the last six months of 2025, your home was the qualifying person’s main home for more than half of 2025, and you paid more than half the cost of keeping up that home. If you do not meet these three conditions, the instructions say you may still qualify for the exclusion if you meet items 2 through 6 under “Who May File.”

What you'll need

Have these forms and details available:

• Nebraska Form 1040N: Your name, Social Security number, and federal AGI from line 5.
• Care provider information: Each provider’s name, address, SSN or EIN, and amounts paid. For a tax-exempt organization, enter “Tax-Exempt” instead of an identifying number.
• Qualifying-person information: Each person’s name, Social Security number, and qualified expenses incurred and paid in 2025.
• Earned-income information: Yours and, if filing jointly, your spouse’s.
• Federal Form 2441 instructions: For definitions and the federal rules referenced by Form 2441N.
• If you received dependent care benefits: Federal Form W-2, box 10, and information about benefits, carryovers, forfeitures, and qualified expenses.
• If you were a partial-year resident: Nebraska Schedule III, Form 1040N, for the ratio on line 4.

Provider information can come from Federal Form W-10; a provider’s Social Security card or driver’s license containing an SSN; a recent printed letterhead or invoice showing the provider’s name, address, and TIN; or an employer statement when the employer furnished the care through its dependent care plan.

How to file

1. Complete Part I with information about each care provider.
2. If you received dependent care benefits, complete Part III before Part II. Otherwise, complete Part II after Part I.
3. Attach Form 2441N to Nebraska Form 1040N.
4. Nebraska residents enter the credit from line 11 on Form 1040N, line 42. Partial-year residents multiply line 11 by the ratio from Nebraska Schedule III, line 4, and enter the result on Form 2441N, line 12, and Form 1040N, line 42.

If you have more than three providers or qualifying persons, attach a statement with the required information and your name and SSN. For additional providers, also enter “See Attached” under line 1(A).

If you claim a credit for 2024 expenses paid in 2025, attach the federal worksheet. E-filers should include that documentation as a binary attachment.

Common mistakes

• Using this form when federal AGI exceeds $29,000. The instructions say not to complete Form 2441N. Instead, see the nonrefundable credit instructions for Form 1040N, line 23, and use Federal Form 2441.
• Leaving provider information incomplete or incorrect. The credit or exclusion will be disallowed if you do not provide correct, complete information.
• Exceeding the line 3 expense limits. Do not enter more than $3,000 for one qualifying person or $6,000 for two or more. If you completed Part III, use line 33 instead.
• Reducing provider payments by reimbursements. Line 1, column (D), should not be reduced by reimbursements you received.
• Including benefits twice. When completing line 32, do not include benefits shown on line 30 in line 2, column (C).
• Including wages in line 14 benefits. Do not include amounts reported as wages in Form W-2, box 1.
• Continuing when line 31 is zero or less. The form says to stop because you cannot take the credit, with a possible exception for 2024 expenses paid in 2025 described in the Federal Form 2441 instructions.

Questions people ask

Can I claim expenses from 2024 that I paid in 2025?

You may be able to increase your 2025 credit. Use Worksheet A in the Federal Form 2441 instructions to determine whether you qualify. If you do, add the additional credit to line 10, write “CPYE” next to that line, and attach the federal worksheet.

What if I received dependent care benefits?

Complete Part III first, then Part II. Employee benefits should be shown in Form W-2, box 10. Do not include amounts reported as wages in box 1.

How are prepaid care expenses treated?

For line 2, prepaid expenses are treated as paid in the year the care is provided. Line 2 generally asks for qualified expenses both incurred and paid in 2025.

What if my spouse or I was a full-time student or disabled?

Special monthly earned-income rules apply. For each qualifying month or part of a month, the person is treated as having earned at least $250, or $500 if more than one qualifying person was cared for in 2025. If actual earned income was higher, use that amount. If both spouses were full-time students or disabled in the same month, only one can be treated as having earned income under this rule for that month.

Official sources

• https://revenue.nebraska.gov/sites/default/files/doc/tax-forms/2025/f_2441N.pdf