Child tax credit

[CrazyBoulder]

I have updated my software. The system seems to add the $2k credit at first to the refund figure. Then after I put in the 7 year old SSN. It reduced it to $500.  I have deleted the kid and put back on. It does the same thing. Last year there is no issue with his SSN and the income is very same. Of course, well below the $400K. If I get paid $400K above, I will hire someone else to do the tax for sure.  Any advice would be appreciated. Don't want to manually put in all numbers. Not having a Pdf editor around. 

[NCperson]

Why is it creating the $2k credit before adding the child? Not following that

Are you listing yourself and child as US citizens?

Are you sure you are keying the date of birth correctly? $500 is for children over 16.

The child’s income doesn’t matter to obtain the $2k credit

Also, what is your income? At VERY low levels of income, the $2000 is not available

Those are initial thoughts

Can you please add more detail to your situation so we can figure this out?

[xmasbaby0]

I am also puzzled by why you would be seeing anything for the child tax credit before you entered the child's SSN.  Without a SSN, you cannot get the child tax credit, so I suspect you may be misinterpreting something else you are seeing on your tax return as the data is being entered.

There has been lots of hype in the news about the new $2000 Child Tax Credit.  Unfortunately, some people do not yet understand that it does not mean they will automatically receive $2000 per child just for filing a tax return.

Do not assume your refund will include $2000 per child for child tax credits.  It does not work that way.  The CTC is used first to reduce your tax liability to zero. After that, there is a refundable portion —up to $1400 — called the Additional Child Tax Credit that is calculated based on the amount of income you earned.  You do not necessarily get the maximum amount.  You get 15% of the amount of income earned above $2500--UP to the maximum amount possible.

If your child turned 17 in 2018, even on the last day of 2018, you do not get the child tax credit.  There are no exceptions to the rule.  You can still claim your child as a dependent.

Your child must have a Social Security number to get the CTC. 

If your child was born in 2018 you need to say the child lived with you for the WHOLE year.

If your child lived with you for less than half the year you cannot get CTC.

If you did not earn at least $2500 you cannot receive the child tax credit.  Beyond that amount the CTC you receive is affected by your tax liability and the amount you earned.  You might not get the full $2000 of CTC.

The child tax credit is reduced by $50 for every $1000 of AGI over these limits:

Married filing jointly                $400,000    (CTC disappears at $440,000)

Single, Head of Household, Married Filing Separately or qualifying widower               $200,000  (CTC disappears at $240,000)

Look at your 2018 tax return to see the credits you received:

Child tax credit line 12a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 17b   (schedule 8812)

Credit for Other Dependents line 12a

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900923-what-is-the-child-tax-credit

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3029430-why-is-my-child-tax-credit-smaller-this-year

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4505689-why-am-i-getting-the-credit-for-other-dependents-instead-o...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...

[NCperson]

Excellent post

[Sheca76]

What do I need to do to receive my child tax credit for my dependant that I have on file for next year.