We cannot see your tax return or your account. You do not say what the source of your income was. Did you have a job that gave you a W-2? Or was your $8686 of income from some other source?
You only receive child-related credits like earned income credit, child tax credit or the childcare credit if you had income earned from working. If your income came from something else--like unemployment compensation, Social Security, etc., you are not eligible for any child-related credits. And with less than $9K of income, you have no tax liability unless you were self-employed and owe self-employment tax.
If you did have income from working, then look at your Form 1040 to see what child-related credits you got.
Look at your 2019 Form 1040 to see the child-related credits you received
PREVIEW 1040
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing
Child Tax Credit line 13a
Credit for Other Dependents line 13a
Earned Income Credit line 18a
Additional Child Tax Credit line 18b
Child and Dependent Care Credit line 18d
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900923-what-is-the-child-tax-credit
https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/does-my-childdependent-qualify-for-the-child-tax-credit-or-the-credit-f...
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900643-what-is-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899157-what-are-the-qualifications-for-the-earned-income-credit-e...
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...
As for it not being "fair" that you do not get a refund....did you file yet? If you choose to use a paid version of the software, you pay to use it no matter whether you get a tax refund or not. With so little income you could have used Free File instead of a paid version of the software. It looks like you are posting from online Deluxe. If you have not filed yet, you could switch to Free File.
If you qualify to use it, there is another full-featured free version of the software:
Try Free File:
You qualify if your income was $36,000 or less, or $69,000 or less if active duty military, or if you qualify for Earned Income Credit
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900583-what-is-turbotax-free-file-program
Note: If you do not qualify to use Free File then you will have to upgrade to Deluxe or higher in the paid versions of the software.
Online Deluxe $60 State software $50
Or—-Use this IRS site for other ways to file for free
https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/
**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.**
