How do I amend my return to add child tax credit.l?

[loveand-beloved]

My children are all listed as dependents but two of them didn’t get the child tax credit and I need to amend that but there’s no option to do so online. Do I have to do paper

[AlanT222]

You do not have to select the Child Tax credit (CTC). Once you put in your dependents' information, TurboTax will automatically calculate your Child Tax Credit,  if you are entitled to it. 

To qualify for the Child Tax Credit, your child must fit all of these requirements:

• Be under age 17 at the end of the tax year
• Is your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, adopted child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, or a descendant of any of them (for example, a grandchild, niece, or nephew)
• Has his or her own Social Security Number
  • Children with ITINs don't qualify, but may instead be eligible for the $500 Credit for Other Dependents
• Lived with you for more than half the year
• Didn't support him/herself (didn't pay more than half their own expenses)
• Is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien
  • Residents of Canada or Mexico wouldn't qualify

Up to $1,400 of the credit is refundable and is phased-in based on your earned income.  In most cases, you must have $2,500 or more of earned income to be eligible for any portion of the refundable Child Tax Credit.

The $2,000 per-child credit is reduced once your AGI reaches $200,000 (or $400,000 if you're filing jointly with your spouse).

If you believe that you were entitled to the Child Tax Credit but did not receive it, click here  for instructions to amend your return:

[loveand-beloved]

My children do qualify based on that. When I click amend and click on Child Tax Credit, it only asks me one question. Did I make money in a halfway house. I click no and it wraps up that credit. There is no way to fix this by amending the return. What other options does TurboTax provide? I wanted to amend electronically to try and save some time as this isn’t a mistake I made. This is a TurboTax error. My stimulus payments were messed up because of this error. 

[DawnC]

If you have already submitted your 2020 tax return, you have to wait to make any changes, see below.   If you have not submitted your returns yet, you can still make changes, go through your dependent information screens and see how your dependents are listed and what the total amount of Child Tax Credit you are receiving to determine why the amount is not what you think it should be.   When you went through the dependent screens, do your dependents show up as dependents, are they all listed on page 1 of your Form 1040 and what box is checked for Box 4?   Up to $1,400 of the credit is refundable and is phased-in based on your earned income.  In most cases, you must have $2,500 or more of earned income to be eligible for any portion of the refundable Child Tax Credit.    And when you review the credit, make sure you are reviewing the Child Tax Credit - it sounds like you were going through the Earned Income questions.  

Which tax credit does my child qualify for?

The IRS hasn't started accepting tax returns; they will on Feb 12.   After you select Transmit Returns Now, your e-file goes to pending status, where it will stay until it's either been accepted or rejected by the government.   Think of pending as "in transit" or "in limbo"—just like you can't cancel a letter that you sent yesterday, you can't cancel a return that's on its way to the government.

To make corrections or changes to your pending return, wait until your return's either been accepted or rejected.

• If your return gets accepted, you'll need to amend.   Do not amend until your original return is processed.   You can e-file a 2020 amendment when the amending form become available.   
• If your return gets rejected, you'll be able to make your changes before you re-submit your return.