Can someone tell my why I only received a child tax credit of $3000 in 2021 but received $4000 in 2020

[Critter-3]

The CTC for 2021 was $6000 for 2 kids as opposed to $4000 in 2020   BUT ...  did you not already get $3000 in monthly advance payments (july - dec of 2021) ?   If you did then the other half is all you get on the tax return.  

[NCperson]

assuming you children were under 17 years old at the end of 2020 and were in the range of 6-17 years old at the end of 2021, here is how it works:

1) for 2020, you would have received $2000 per child or $4000

2) for 2021, you would have been eligible for $3000 per child or $6,000.  But if you received the Advanced Child Tax credit of $500 per month from July - December, 2021, then you already received the 1st $3,000 and there shuld be another $3,000 on line 28 of Form 1040 of your tax return. 

note that for 2022, unless Congress acts, you will be back to $2,000 per child under the age of 17.

[VolvoGirl]

If you didn't get the Advance you would get the whole credit on your tax return.  But you already got half so you aren't losing anything.

I found this in a news article, it explains it pretty well........

While the CTC expansion was structured to not increase taxes on any household, a dollar of credit received in advance results in a dollar less received at filing time. For families unaware of the trade-off, it could mean a surprise when they see their refund total this year.

Consider a married couple with a 10-year-old child who normally received their $2,000 CTC when they filed their taxes. They would have received $1,500 of their $3,000 in advance. As such, they could potentially see their refund shrink by $500 even though their total benefit increased to $3,000 because they are left with $1,500 instead of their normal $2,000 at tax time.