I am unsure how to answer the question "Is your earned income for 2017 less than it was for 2016?" pertaining to Child Tax Credit. How do I find this info?

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

Are you in a hurricane area?  If you had an income drop due to the hurricane, you have the option of calculating your earned income credit and child tax credit based on last years' income or this year's income, whichever gives you a larger credit.  However, turbotax does not calculate your "earned income" at this time (we asked for an update, who knows.)

To calculate your "earned income" for 2016, you will need a copy of your 2016 tax return and the instructions for the earned income credit from the instruction book for form 1040 starting on page 54.  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf

Usually, earned income is your income earned from working a job, and is on box 1 of your W-2.  However, there are a few odd modifications and adjustments like for combat pay and statutory employee.

If your income didn't change much due to the hurricane, then just answer "no."