Okay, so here's the conclusion that I've come to is: we were misinformed lied to about how the prepayments were going to work and that they weren't going to look or work the same way on our taxes as in previous years. Honestly, everyone should have opted out of the advanced payments and if I had realized how it was going to impact our taxes I would have.
This article was published in July of 2021 and if I had read it then I would have opted out of the prepayments right away:
https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/603223/will-monthly-child-tax-credit-payments-lower-your-tax-refund-...
So in previous years the Child Tax Credit was a nonrefundable credit. This year since it was a fully refundable credit, and most of us got half of it up front, the half we got up front doesn't affect our taxes (they can't refund what we've already been paid), we were given the cash and that's it. So this year none of my tax liability was reduced, and only the second half of the money which I am owed is showing up (as it should) as a refundable tax credit on line 28 & 32 it is then added to the taxes I paid through my employer throughout the year and other tax credits I qualify for and all together they don't cover my tax liability. This has never happened to me before because the taxes I paid and the CTC usually reduce it enough that with my deductions I typically get a refund.
Turbo Tax isn't wrong.
WE WERE LIED TO AND I'M PISSED ABOUT IT AND YOU SHOULD BE TOO!
Also to all the people asking if we entered our information correctly, the answer is YES, but the results are not what we are expecting, that's why we're here commenting on this thread.
