It’s not letting me claim my dependents even though they are eligible

shakinaridley — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 18:11:36 GMT

Re: It’s not letting me claim my dependents even though they are eligible

xmasbaby0 — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 18:46:10 GMT

You probably answered something incorrectly in MY INFO. Go back to MY INFO, click the child’s name and go through all of the interview questions carefully and slowly. Read every screen top to bottom.

Make sure you have entered your child as a dependent in My Info, and that you have entered the child's Social Security number. Careful— do not say that your child’s SSN is not valid for employment. If your child was born in 2025 make sure you said he lived with you the whole year. There is an oddly worded question that asks if the child paid over half their own support. Say NO to that question.

If your dependent was a full-time college student, make sure you were careful on the MY INFO screen for “Uncommon situations” and that you indicated there that they were a student.

Have you entered income from working in 2025? If not, you will not receive an income tax refund based on having dependent children.

The maximum amount of the child tax credit is now $2200 per child; the refundable “additional child tax credit” amount is $1700. In order to get that credit, you have to have income from working.

Take the amount you earned from working. Subtract $2500. Multiply the rest by 15%. That is the additional child tax credit per child that you canget—- up to the maximum of $1700 per child. If the amount you earned from working was low, you will not get the full $1700 per child.

If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2025, you do not get the CTC. But you may still get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents instead.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/child-tax-credit/L2lNhfGDl_US_en_US?uid=m68dfq2u

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/additional-child-tax-credit/L6xFeMFEf_US_en_US?uid=lqnuygah

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/does-my-childdependent-qualify-for-the-child-tax-credit-or-the-credit-for-other-dependents

And for the Earned Income Credit—-

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-credits-deductions/qualifications-earned-income-credit-eic-eitc/L7w4BFP32_US_en_US?uid=m62rmz09

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p596.pdf

Look at your 2025 Form 1040 to see the child-related credits you received

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/preview-turbotax-online-return-filing/L77WCkvnu_US_en_US?uid=m681fkhr

Child Tax Credit line 19

Credit for Other Dependents line 19

Earned Income Credit line 27

Additional Child Tax Credit line 28

Re: It’s not letting me claim my dependents even though they are eligible

NicolleR1 — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 22:47:42 GMT

There are some possible reasons why you are getting dependent errors.

One could be that you have entered incorrect personal information. Double check in the “Personal Info” section, and make sure you select answers that indicate that they qualify to be your dependent.

Also be sure that they lived with you more than half of the year and that you paid more than half of their support.

See the link below to see if they meet IRS Criteria

Requirements for dependents

Edited [02/22/2026 at 05:45 PM ET]

topic It’s not letting me claim my dependents even though they are eligible in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

It’s not letting me claim my dependents even though they are eligible

Re: It’s not letting me claim my dependents even though they are eligible

Re: It’s not letting me claim my dependents even though they are eligible