My 5 year old kid just received his social security number. I'm claiming child tax credit for him this year. Can I claim this for previous years by amending?

[farrukau2016]

My 5 year old son is living with me all these years. As he is not a citizen rather has become a permanent resident (with Green Card), he received his social security just lately. I know that I will be able to claim child tax credit for him for this year (2016) tax filing. But what about the previous years when he had not social security and so I couldn't claim any child tax credit at that time. Now can I do amended filling for claiming child tax credit for those previous years? If so then how many years I will be able to claim, because he's living with me since 2013?

Thanks

[bine22]

There is a new rule that the child tax credit can only be claimed, if you have an SSN/ITIN by the deadline of the return. This rule was new for 2015 returns, so for 2015 you cannot claim the child tax credit (but the dependency exemption).

[LeeM · Accepted solution]

Only if he was a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien (being a resident of Canada or Mexico does not qualify)

You can actually amend all the way back to 2013.

You find the instructions on how to amend all of those years in the directions below. Just go into the amendment and add him to the Personal Info section. Just remember to answer all the questions in that section.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3288565