Each of my children qualify for the child tax credit (6 and 11 years old), but it says 'based on my income and other tax info' we don't qualify?? How do I fix this??

[zambonicamille-g]

1. I am making less than 20k a year
2. I have full custody of my children

[Mike9241]

we can't see your return or form 8812 which are crucial.

You paid extra for Live.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/expert-review/help/how-do-i-connect-with-a-tax-expert-in-turbotax-...

 5 AM to 5 PM, PT, Monday–Friday

you can allow the agent to see your return and forms. 

[NCperson]

a few things to check:

1) what kind of income do you have?  is it from a W-2? is it social security benefits? it makes a difference. 

2) have you keyed in the income? if you haven't yet taken that step, the tax credit will display as zero.  Once the income is entered, it will correct itself. 

The income has to be earned to qualify for the child tax credit.  It can't be social security, pensions, dividends, interest, etc.  It has to be from a W-2 or 1099-NEC form (in most cases).

assuming the $20,000 was EARNED, here is what I would expect: 

1) the Child Tax Credit is $2,000 per child, but no greater than your tax liability.  I'll assume you are filing HOH.  Given $20,000 of income, the tax liability is $60, so the CTC is $60  That is reflected on Line 19.

Then there is the ADDITIONAL Child Tax Credit.  This is more complicated, but is it the LESSER of these three rules and is reflected on Line 28: 

1)  $1500 per child so in your case, $3,000

2) 15% of the income that exceeds $2500 or $2,625

3) $2000 per child less the CTC or $3940.

so $2625 should be on line 28 if you are eligible. 

[Opus 17]

The child tax credit is only paid against income tax that you owe. If you don’t owe income tax because your income is low, you won’t receive any credit even though you qualify.  There is a secondary version of the credit, called the “additional child tax credit” which can be paid even if you don’t owe income tax, but it is based on your income earned from working, and does not take into account alimony, a pension, investments, or other taxable income.  Even if your entire $20,000 of income is earned from working, it is likely that you have reached the maximum amount of additional child tax credit you can receive.

[NCperson]

@Opus 17 - see my post above...

<<Even if your entire $20,000 of income is earned from working, it is likely that you have reached the maximum amount of additional child tax credit you can receive>>

OP states she is ineligible.  I'll take that as 'zero' credit, which is not correct at $20,000 of earned income. 

Based on 2 children under 17 and filing HOH, the additional CTC should be around $2625. OP certainly qualifies for the credit at $20,000 of earned income.  It's just not $4,000. 

[Opus 17]

@NCperson 

We can't see the screen messages the taxpayer is seeing.  Turbotax may very well tell people "you don't qualify for the CTC" but then on a separate screen, tell them something like "let's see if you qualify for the ACTC". 

Other issues not previously discussed include the fact that the child must "live with" the taxpayer more than half the year, must have a social security number, and must have the correct birthdate.  One of those pieces of data may have been entered incorrectly, especially if there is a custody situation, and the dependent interview could be re-checked.