I am my sons sole provider as his father passed away. Do I receive tax breaks?

[oliv18396]

I am single, unemployed as of this month. We had moved and got a new place for rent in a new state.

[xmasbaby0]

Very sorry for your loss.    You have not mentioned what income you were receiving before you moved to the new state.    The refundable child-related credits are based on having income from working.  Did you have income from working in 2025?

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_e...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/additional-child-tax-credit/L6x...

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

And for the Earned Income Credit—-

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-credits-deductions/qualifications-ea...

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-retur...

Child Tax Credit line 19

Credit for Other Dependents line 19

Earned Income Credit line 27

Additional Child Tax Credit line 28

[LaShaunA3]

I’m very sorry for your loss. As your son’s sole provider, you may qualify to file as Head of Household, which offers a higher standard deduction and lower tax brackets than Single status if he lived with you more than half the year and you paid more than half the cost of the home

Xmasbaby0 mentioned additional credits that you may qualify for based on income and life circumstances. There may be others, but it's difficult to determine without additional information. 

[xmasbaby0]

And....this has nothing to do with your income tax right now---but have you applied for survivor benefits for your child from Social Security?

https://www.ssa.gov/faqs/en/questions/KA-02083.html