The child tax credit is not "part of the covid stimulus." You do not mention the ages of the children----you could get the CTC for qualifying child dependents under the age of 18 if they had Social Security numbers valid for employment, and lived with you in the U.S. for at least six months. If you received any of the advance child tax credit payments between July and December of 2021 you were supposed to enter the amount received. The amounts sent to you for those payments were in letter 6419 which was sent to EACH parent with half assigned to each of you so you had to enter all of it if you filed a joint return. If you entered less than the amount received the IRS caught the mistake and reduced your refund.
You cannot get the CTC for the child of a BF, GF, etc. so not sure what you are referring to when you say they are "legal dependents" They could be qualifying relative dependents for the $500 credit for other dependents, but not for the CTC. So we need details about the children.
Tell us more about the children.
The IRS knows how much they sent to you for the 3rd stimulus check and they know how much they sent for advance child tax credit payments. If you answered something incorrectly on your tax return then the IRS made a correction that resulted in a reduced refund for you.
Meanwhile it might help you to check your online IRS account.
https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account
https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-refunds/why-is-my-tax-refund-not-what-i-expected-49240/
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
