How do I get the additional child tax credit?

[xmasbaby0]

If you have a dependent child under the age of 17 and enough income earned from working, the additional child tax credit is added to line 28 of your tax return automatically.  

Make sure you have entered your child as a dependent in My Info, and that you have entered the child's Social Security number.    Careful— do not say that your child’s SSN is not valid for employment.  If your child was born in 2023 make sure you said he lived with you the whole year.  There is an oddly worded question that asks if the child paid over half their own support.  Say NO to that question.

Have you entered income from working in 2023?  If not,  you will not receive an income tax refund based on having dependent children.

The rules for getting the child tax credit on a 2021 tax return and now on a 2023 return are very different.  For 2021 you could get $3600 for a child under 6 or $3000 for a child between 6 and 17 even if you had no income/did not work.   That is NOT the way it will work for your 2023 tax return.  The “old” rules are back. 

  The maximum amount of the child tax credit is now $2000 per child; the refundable “additional child tax credit” amount is $1600.   In order to get that credit, you have to have income from working.  The credit is calculated based on the amount you earned above $2500 multiplied by 15%, up to the full $1600 per child. If the amount you earned was too low, you will not get the full $1600.

 If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2023, you do not get the CTC.  But you may still get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents instead.

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/additional-child-tax-credit/L6x...

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/does-my-childdependent-qualify-for-the-child-tax-credit-or-the-credit-f...

And for the Earned Income Credit—-the rules are back to the “old” rules—

Those under 25 and over 65 without children are not eligible as they were uniquely in 2021.   And you cannot use your income from any earlier tax year to get the EIC for a 2022 return.  There is no “lookback” for 2023.  EIC for 2023 will be based on the income you earned by working in 2023.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899157-what-are-the-qualifications-for-the-earned-income-credit-e...

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant

Look at your 2023 Form 1040 to see the child-related credits you received

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing

Child Tax Credit line 19

Credit for Other Dependents line 19

Earned Income Credit line 27

Additional Child Tax Credit line 28

If you are inquiring about the rumored monthly child tax credit payments that some people thought would start arriving in July---that is untrue----do not expect monthly child tax credit payments in 2024.

ENHANCED CHILD TAX CREDIT BILL

There are currently a number of websites incorrectly saying that there will be advance child tax credit payments being issued in July 2024.  Sorry—-this is untrue.   There is a bill in Congress to enhance the child tax credit.  It has not passed.

There are no monthly advance child tax credit payments for 2024.   In tax year 2021 ONLY there were advance CTC payments sent from July 2021 to December 2021.  There were no such payments in 2022, 2023, and no such payments being sent for 2024.

As of now, the child tax credit for 2023 is still $2000, with a refundable “additional child tax credit “ amount of up to $1600.

No one here knows if or when the proposed enhanced child tax credit bill will pass.  It has gone through the House  of Representatives and is now in the Senate—where 100 senators will decide whether to pass it.  It has not been passed or signed into law.    IF and when it passes, we do not know when they will make it effective or how it will be implemented.  They are still wrangling with it so we do not know what it will look like when they are done.  We do not know when or if they will put this to a vote.