I believe I qualify for the Additional Child Tax Credit, but Turbotax is not giving it to me.

[jonathan-gerrans]

I have foreign income of under $200k and no owed taxes in the US. I have two kids and I believe I should be able to claim the Additional Child Tax Credit for both of them, but TurboTax doesn't agree and isn't filing Schedule 8812. How do I get this to work?

[KeshaH]

You have to have earned income to qualify for the additional child tax credit. If you used the foreign earned income exclusion to exclude all of your income, you wouldn't qualify for the additional child tax credit.

[jonathan-gerrans]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

My tax preparer last year filed Schedule 8812 and we got Additional Child Tax Credit last year, under the same circumstances. Does this mean that was filed incorrectly last year?

[KeshaH]

Not necessarily. It's possible that last year your income wasn't fully excluded, so you had enough earned income left over to qualify for the credit.

[jonathan-gerrans]

Turns out I needed to not exclude my foreign income, and instead use form 1116 for foreign tax credit.

Thanks for the help!