Child Tax Credit

[DMF6]

I received the child tax credit last year, and I still have two children who qualify this year (age 16 or under). Our married filing jointly income this year is about $90,000 and we owe around $3500 in taxes. Why would we not receive the child tax credit this year, but be given the additional child tax credit? Shouldn't we get both this year?

[DoninGA]

You do receive the Child Tax Credit on your 2021 tax return.  After entering the advance child tax credits you received in 2021 that amount is subtracted from your 2021 Child Tax Credit you are eligible to receive.  The remaining CTC is on your tax return.

The Child Tax Credit is entered on your federal tax return Form 1040 on Line 28. It is added to your other tax payments, it is not a separate refund. Your Total taxes from Line 24 are subtracted from your Total tax payments on Line 33. If you have an overpayment then that is entered on Line 34 as your federal tax refund.  Or the Total payments on Line 33 are subtracted from Line 24 for the taxes owed on Line 37.

Using the TurboTax online editions you can view your Form 1040 at any time using the online editions. Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the online program screen. Click on Tools. Click on View Tax Summary. Click on Preview my 1040 on the left side of the screen.

Using the TurboTax desktop CD/Download editions click on Forms.  In Forms mode open the Form 1040

[clbilling]

I think there is an error with the software from a recent update.  The child tax credit amount is not being shown correctly on the desktop version of Turbo tax. 

[JillS56]

Please clarify what you mean by "The child tax credit amount is not being shown correctly on the desktop version of Turbo tax."

[VolvoGirl]

Did you enter the advance amount you did get?  Then the rest should be on line 28 if you qualify like if your income isn't over the max.  Oh and your total refund isn't necessarily the amount of the credit.   It either adds to your refund or reduces a tax due.

Turbo Tax started out giving you the full amount as soon as you entered your children.  So your refund was too high.  Then later you enter what you already received so it subtracts out what you already got.   Check 1040 line 28.  That is the remaining credit you get, not the advance you already got.  It either adds to your refund or reduces a tax due.

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.