If you have only made almost $6000 for the year can you claim your child as a dependant and will you get the full tax credit?

[Opus 17]

I forgot one more comment.  Depending on your living situation, someone else might be able to claim your child as a dependent and get a larger benefit than you.  For example, if you live with your parents (the child's grandparents) they can claim the child as a dependent as long as you let them (the parent always gets first choice) AND as long as their taxable income is more than yours.

Other adults you might live with might or might not be able to claim the child as a dependent with your agreement.  It can get quite complicated so provide more details if you want detailed answers.

It can get complicated to figure out how to maximize the tax benefit of a small child.  Making several tax returns would be one way of testing it as long as you are careful to only file one return that represents your final choice.

[SweetieJean]

You can estimate different scenarios here:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/

[Nathuff]

Re: If you have only made almost $6000 for the year can you claim your child as a dependant and will you get the full tax credit?

[xmasbaby0]

@Nathuff The "full" tax credit?  No.   Your child-related credits are affected in a big way by how much you earned.   If you earned less than $6000, your additional child tax credit will be $500 or less; your earned income credit will be no more than about $2000.  Since you did not provide the exact amount you earned, those amounts are estimates.

There are several child-related credits you *may* get if you have a dependent child and if you have income earned from working.

You might be getting the Child Tax Credit--that is not all a refund--it lowers the tax you owe, up to $2000 per child, but if you do not owe tax then you may not get the full amount of CTC.  In some cases, you could qualify for the "Additional Child Tax Credit" which is a refundable credit, and would increase your refund.  If you qualify for this credit, TurboTax calculates and automatically adds it to your refund.

You might be able to claim the child and dependent care credit if you paid someone to take care of your child so you could work. This is not a refundable credit, so it will not be in your refund.  It can lower the tax you owe.

You might qualify for Earned Income Credit, which is a refundable credit if you worked and earned income. The EIC is based on the amount you earned.  If you do qualify for EIC, TurboTax automatically calculates the amount and adds it to your refund.

Look at your 2019 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 13a

Credit for Other Dependents line 13a

Earned Income Credit line 18a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 18b

Child and Dependent Care Credit line 18d

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

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900643-what-is-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...

[MamabearcaresQ17]

I’m curious what the ‘sweet spot’ is for filing, so I’m getting the most back, so that I can stop my earnings when I hit it? 

[MaryK4]

The CTC phases out at an income level of $200,000 for single filers and $400,000 for joint filers.

@MamabearcaresQ17

[Hal_Al]

@MamabearcaresQ17 

With one kid, the "sweet spot" is ~$12,000.