You may be thinking about the difference between a qualifying child for Child Tax Credit and an "other dependent" for the Other Dependent Credit.
A qualifying child for child tax credit purposes:
- has to be under the age of 17 at the end of the year
- is your son, daughter, brother, sister or descendant of any of these. Foster, adopted, and half relations count
- lives with you for more than 6 months
- has a valid Social Security Number
- doesn't provide more than half of their own support (use this worksheet to determine their support)
Any dependent that you're claiming on your return that doesn't meet the definition of a qualifying child is considered an "Other Dependent" for purposes of this credit.
