HOW MUCH IS THE CHILD TAX CREDIT

[DanielV01 · Accepted solution]

It depends.  When it comes to dependents, there are actually two separate credits that children can help qualify for.  The one you mention, the Child Tax Credit, is $1000 per child under the age of 17 on December 31, 2016.  In itself, it is a nonrefundable credit, which means that once your tax liability is down to zero, you cannot qualify for any more of that specific credit.  However, any unused portion of the Child Tax Credit can potentially become Additional Child Tax Credit, which is refundable.

[Hal_Al]

$1000 per child under age 17.

But 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 $3000 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 43 of form 1040A instead of line 35 (lines 67 & 52 of form 1040).   The ACTC is calculated on form 8812; that form is not viewable in the online version of TT until you have paid for your return. But, the ACTC is basically 15% of your earned income over $3000, up to $1000 total.

Furthermore, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) is phased out at higher incomes starting at $110,000 for joint filers  ($75K single). You lose $50 for each $1000 (rounding up) your income is over that threshold.