The amount of the child tax credit changed for tax year 2021. Many people who claimed a child on a 2020 tax return received advance child tax credit payments between July and December 2021. If you received those advance payments you should have received Letter 6419 from the IRS showing how much they paid to you for the advance payments. If you opted out of the advance payments or just did not get them, then you can get the full amount on your 2021 tax return.
Unless your income was too high and your CTC phases out, the amount of CTC for children age 6 to 17 is $3000 per child. You may have received half of that during 2021 between July and December.
Check your online account with the IRS to see what the IRS shows for your CTC payments if you are not sure or did not receive the letter.
https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account
Federal>Deductions and Credits>You and Your Family>Child Tax Credit
The IRS is sending out letter 6419 to you. It will show the amount of advance child tax credit that you received during 2021. Enter the information from that letter carefully.
The remaining amount of CTC that you can receive will show up on line 28 of your 2021 Form 1040. Then it will calculate down to the refund you see on line 35a or the tax due on line 37.
PREVIEW 1040
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing
Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the screen. Click on Tools. Click on View Tax Summary. Click on Preview my 1040 on the left side of the screen.
NOTE: The CTC is indeed a “credit” that can be applied toward any tax liability that you would otherwise have to pay as “tax due” to the IRS.
You would also have letter 6475 that shows the amount of the 3rd EIP payments ("stimulus") that was sent to you--the $1400 per person payments that were sent sometime between mid-March and the end of 2021.
Do not confuse these letters or the places in the software to enter them. You enter information about the EIP payments in Federal Review for the recovery rebate credit.
**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.**
