How can I best qualify for the Child tax credit?

[littlebopeep75]

What is a 1099 nec

[LeticiaF1]

With the Child Tax Credit, you can get up to $2,000 for each qualifying child.  To qualify, your child must meet all of these requirements:

• Be under age 17 at the end of the tax year
• Is your child, stepchild, foster child, adopted child, sibling, step sibling, half sibling, or a descendant of any of them (for example, a grandchild, niece, or nephew)
• Has their own Social Security number
  • Children with ITINs don't qualify, but may instead be eligible for the $500 Credit for Other Dependents
• Lived with you for more than half the year
• Didn't support themselves (didn't pay more than half their own expenses)
• Is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien
  • Residents of Canada or Mexico don't qualify

In 2023, the tax credit will be refundable only up to $1,600, depending on your income. You must have earned income of at least $2,500 to be eligible for the refund.   Also, the credit begins to reduce if your modified adjusted gross income is less than:

• $400,000 if you're Married Filing Jointly or a Qualifying Surviving Spouse, or
• $200,000 for all other filing statuses

Form 1099-NEC reports Nonemployee Compensation.  If you worked as a freelancer or contractor last year, you probably got a 1099-NEC reporting how much money you were paid in box 1.  For more information about the form and how to enter it into TurboTax see the following article:

What is a 1099-NEC?

[Hal_Al]

Q. How can I best qualify for the Child tax credit?

A. There are no steps you can take, at tax filing time, to improve your child tax credit benefit. You enter a child, under age 17, as a dependent and you enter your earned income, usually via a form W-2.  TurboTax does the rest.

If you are not getting the full $2000, it is most likely  because your income is too low.  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 (2021- 2023) 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 $1600 (2023) ($1500 for 2022) per child, not $2000.