The money you hear about people getting for just filing a
tax return claiming kids requires you to
have some earned income (wages or self employment). Without earned
income, you are not eligible for the "refundable" Earned Income
Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit.
The child tax credit (CTC) is not something you "file for". You file a normal tax return and If you are entitled to it, TurboTax
(TT) will automatically give you the CTC
The child
tax credit is limited to your
tax liability. The CTC is a non-refundable credit and can only reduce your
income tax to 0, It can not help you beyond eliminating your tax liability.
But, if you have more than $3000 of earned income, some or all of it is usually
given back to you thru the "Additional Child tax credit" (ACTC). That is,
part of the CTC may be on line 43
of form 1040A instead of line 35 (lines 67 & 52 of form 1040). The
ACTC is calculated on form 8812. The ACTC is basically
15% of your earned income over $3000.
If you have both a child dependent and earned income, you may also be eligible for the Earned Income Credit (unless you are the non custodial parent).
