There is no such thing as a "child tax refund''. You do not get the "Child Tax Credit", unless you have enough income to have a calculated tax liability. The money you hear about people getting for just filing a
tax return claiming kids requires you to
have some earned income (wages or self employment). Without earned
income, you are not eligible for the "refundable" Earned Income Credit (EIC) or Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC).
You must have a least $3000 of net self employment income, to start getting some of the Additional Child Tax Credit. The EIC is on a sliding scale and starts with first $ of earned income. But, you also must pay social security and medicare tax on your self employment income which will reduce your refundable credits.
Look at the forms. The EIC is on line 66a of form 1040 and the Self employment tax (social security and medicare) on line 57 . The ACTC, if any, will be on line 67.
