Q.Is the amount of the credit $500 or $2,000?
A. $500
Your child is too old (over 16), for the (up to) $2000 Child Tax Credit. You can still claim your child, as a "Qualifying Child" dependent*. What you can't claim is the Child tax credit. This comes as a big surprise to many parents the year their child turns 17. A child over age 16 no longer qualifies for the Child Tax credit (CTC). Although a child can still be a student dependent through age 23, and a qualifying child for EIC, the Child Tax Credit expires the year they turn 17 and you no longer get the $2000 CTC. Instead you will get the non-refundable (up to) $500 Other Dependent Credit.
*There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, a relationship test, student status, and residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.
There is an additional age requirement for the $2000 Child tax credit (CTC). The QC must be under age 17.
So, a Qualifying relative dependent and a qualifying child, over 16, only gets you the $500 (non-refundable) "Dependent credit", not the $2000 Child tax credit
