topic I didnt work much last year but its not letting me claim my child in Deductions & credits

I didnt work much last year but its not letting me claim my child

daniellavigorito — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 06:39:22 GMT

why wont my child tax work

Re: I didnt work much last year but its not letting me claim my child

xmasbaby0 — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:54:22 GMT

Refundable child-related credits like earned income credit and the additional child tax credit are based on having income from working. If you did not work, then you are not eligible for those credits.

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

AND….If you have children but had little or no income, it raises the question of how you and the children were supported. There may be another tax-paying adult who can claim you and/or the children as dependents.

Re: I didnt work much last year but its not letting me claim my child

Vanessa A — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:55:33 GMT

It is not letting you claim your child or the child tax credit? What exactly is happening?

The amount you earn does not affect whether or not you can claim your child as a dependent, as long as no one else is actually supporting them and they are not providing over half of their own support. If you are not able to claim your child at all, go back through and double check your answers to be sure they are accurate.

The following criteria must be met to claim someone as a qualifying child:

Your child (including adopted and foster children), your sibling, or a descendent of any of them.
Age 18 or younger at the end of the tax year OR under 24 (and younger than you and your spouse) if they are a full-time student or any age if they are totally and permanently disabled
Lived with you for more than 6 months during the tax year
They did not provide more than half of their own support (social security does not count)
They did not file a joint return, unless it was to claim a refund

However, if you are talking about the child tax credit, in order to claim it, you must have at least $2,500 in earned income. If it was less than that, then you are not eligible for the refundable portion or the Additional Child Tax Credit.

To claim the child tax credit both you and your child would need a valid Social Security number.

The Child Tax credit is a nonrefundable credit worth up to $2,200 per qualifying child. In order to qualify for this credit, you must first have a qualifying child, have a tax liability to be reduced by the credit and have income of less than $200,000 if single and $400,000 if married filing jointly. If your income is greater than these limits, the credit is phased out gradually.

If you do not have a high enough tax liability to claim the credit, then you may be eligible for the Additional Child Tax Credit which can be worth up to $1,700. This credit, is the refundable portion of the child tax credit.

It is calculated by taking subtracting $2,500 from your income and then multiplying that number by 15%. If you do not have more than $2,500 of eligible income, you would not qualify for the Additional Child Tax Credit. So if your total income was $3,350 then you would have an additional child tax credit of $127.50

A few things you can check if you think you should have received the child tax credit and you didn't.

Double check your entries starting with the personal info section making sure you have entered all information including social security numbers for your kids.
Did your child live with you for 6 months or more during the year? If not, you do not qualify. If your child was born during the tax year, you will need to select that they lived with you for the entire year.
Did you enter your income? Did you double check your entries? You need to have income to get the credit, so if you do not have in excess of $2,500 or you have income above the phaseout, you may not qualify for the credit.

You can see the child tax credit amount received on line 19 of your 1040 or the additional child tax credit on line 28. To see your 1040 click Tools>>Tax Tools>>Preview My 1040.

If you are using the desktop version, you can switch to forms mode to see your 1040.