So if I'm understanding this thread:
1. everyone with eligible children who is preparing their taxes has generally received half of the child tax credit that they are expecting.
2. once everyone enters the amounts received based on Letter 6419 received by each taxpayer, the estimated amount drops by the amount received eliminating the total child tax credit even though everyone has only received half of the "credit".
3. the "estimate" doesn't show the other half of the child tax credit until you pay or if you remove state from the return (then no fee due for simple returns) you should be able to see the remaining half of the child tax credit appear implying that the logic exists in the refund calculation, but won't be visible until you're at the point of reviewing your 1040's?
Something seems terrifically amiss with not presenting the estimated refund amount. The software should calculate the total refund due ($3600/$3000 per child depending on age of child/income) and then reduce that amount by the total received in letter 6419, not start at half of the credit in the estimator and then reduce it to $0 with the accurate information entered. This is not transparent. It should be fixed as soon as possible. I'm being asked for credit card info and it still presents a federal refund less the $3600 I'm still owed for 2 small kids (under 5) and meeting the income criteria.
