You can not use the same child care expenses that you paid for out of your reimbursement account at work to claim the tax credit.

However, if you have more than one child, you might be able to use both benefits on separate expenses, up to a limit.

Suppose you spend $9,000 a year on child care and put $5,000 into a dependent care account at work. That leaves $4,000 in "unused" child care expenses.

If you have two or more children, you can apply the tax credit on up to $6,000 in expenses. But you must first subtract the $5,000 you put into your dependent care account. That leaves $1,000 in expenses, against which you can apply the tax credit. If your credit is 20 percent, you save $200.

This won’t work if you have only one child because you can only claim the credit on $3,000 in expenses, which is less than the $5,000 you put into your dependent care account.