Credits

[My2kidz]

If I am head of household and have a dependent but didn’t work ( as I’m a stay at home mom), however I did receive interest on a return from 2021 I received this year and from cashing a savings bond as week both of which sent me a 1099 would I be eligible to claim the child tax credit?

[JohnB5677]

The Child Tax Credit is based on the amount of tax that you owe. 

• As the Head of Household you get a Standard Deduction of $21,900 in 2024.
• You must have more income than $21,900 before you owe any tax.
• However: If the credit exceeds your tax liability, you may be getting the Additional Child tax credit.

You can check your tax return to see if you qualified:

From the left sidebar

1. Select Tax tools
2. Hint: You may have to minimize the Federal and State selections
3. Click Tools
4. A Menu will pop up
5. Select View tax summary
6. On the left panel click Preview my 1040

Some Key numbers:

• 15 Taxable income
• 16 Total Tax you owe
• 19 Child Tax Credit
• 28 Additional Child Tax Credit
• 34 Refund
• 37 Amount you owe

[NCperson]

@My2kidz - no.  you need at least $2500 of EARNED income to be eligible for even the first dollar of the tax credit. 

[Hal_Al]

Simple answer: No.  The interest income you received is not "earned income".  But, depending on your tax liability, maybe some. 

The child tax credit  (CTC) is limited to your tax liability. The CTC is a non-refundable credit and can only reduce your income tax to 0, It can not help you beyond eliminating your tax liability. But, if you have more than $2500 of earned income, some or all of it is usually given back to you thru the "Additional Child tax credit". That is, part of the CTC may be on line 28 of form 1040  instead of line 19. The  ACTC is calculated on form 8812 and  is basically 15% of your earned income over $2500. The ACTC is a maximum of $1700 (2024)  per child, not $2000.