@NCperson and @CRitter3 - Thank you very much for your responses.
Following your suggestions here is the following information.
I don't have access on how TT figured out the Child Tax Credit. There is no Schedule 8812 on my TT return. There is a 1040 Wks followed by Scheduled 1,2,3 but no 8812 anywhere.
I don't have a record of Letter 6419 and am unable to access the information on the IRS web site as id.me is having difficulty with my foreign address, see below. But I found the dollar amounts in my bank account and report them below.
We have lived in NZ since 2016 and have always been very straightforward with this on tax returns in TT, listing our foreign address and a US address for correspondences (my mom's address). In TT we are listed as "foreign" for state of residence and do provide a US address only for "Mailing Address and Phone Number"
This being said, when I filled out Line 5 of 8812 I get $4000 and I used the Line 5 worksheet offline.
Our primary place of abode was NOT in the US for at least 6 months. It is checked "No" in TT and also when I filled out 8812 offline.
I was unaware we were getting advanced credits, but I checked our US bank account, which is the one I normally pay my takes from, and to my surprise, from July-Dec 2021 we did receive $2000! My spouse and I share a joint account so I so not think she would have received anything separate from this.
Now that I've seen this, I've gone back and RE-done the appropriate section on Child Tax Credits in TT. TT now tells me the same amount of tax owed as related to me by the IRS in the letter they sent me.
Line 19 on 1040 now reads 2000 instead of 3995, which I assume reflects the $2000 we received in pre-payment credits last year. So now I think I just pay what the IRS has asked, which is OK.
TT still has not included an 8812 onto my tax return but the numbers seem to work out.
So thank you much, I think the problem has been solved. Never nice to owe more money, but satisfying to see where the problem was . I will need to get onto the IRS website so I can check these in the future but there is a process for this.
Kind regards
