My Child and Other Dependent Tax Credit shows $500, whereas I am expecting the child dependent credit to be $2,000

[xmasbaby0]

There has been lots of hype in the news about the new $2000 Child Tax Credit.  Unfortunately, some people do not yet understand that it does not mean they will automatically receive $2000 per child just for filing a tax return.

Do not assume your refund will include $2000 per child for child tax credits.  It does not work that way.  The CTC is used first to reduce your tax liability to zero. After that, there is a refundable portion —up to $1400 — called the Additional Child Tax Credit that is calculated based on the amount of income you earned.  You do not necessarily get the maximum amount.  You get 15% of the amount of income earned above $2500--UP to the maximum amount possible.

If your child turned 17 in 2018, even on the last day of 2018, you do not get the child tax credit.  There are no exceptions to the rule.  You can still claim your child as a dependent.

Your child must have a Social Security number to get the CTC.  

If your child was born in 2018 you need to say the child lived with you for the WHOLE year.

If your child lived with you for less than half the year you cannot get CTC.

If you did not earn at least $2500 you cannot receive the child tax credit.  Beyond that amount the CTC you receive is affected by your tax liability and the amount you earned.  You might not get the full $2000 of CTC.

The child tax credit is reduced by $50 for every $1000 of AGI over these limits:

Married filing jointly                $400,000    (CTC disappears at $440,000)

Single, Head of Household, Married Filing Separately or qualifying widower               $200,000  (CTC disappears at $240,000)

Look at your 2018 tax return to see the credits you received:

Child tax credit line 12a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 17b   (schedule 8812) 

Credit for Other Dependents line 12a

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3029430-why-is-my-child-tax-credit-smaller-this-year

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4505689-why-am-i-getting-the-credit-for-other-dependents-instead-o...

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

[Smaforte]

I’m single with a dependent and way under $200,000 and received a $500 on CTC. 
not only that, my refund itself was extremely low to the point where I’ve never received such a low return. 
After failing at communication with one of your agents I tried self filling on your website and now I absolutely regret it. 

[Critter-3]

@Smaforte 

Look at the return and the worksheets carefully ... $500 would be for an dependent over the age of 16 so how old was your child ?   

If younger than 17 then look at your tax liability ... the non refundable portion of the credit is limited to your federal tax amount adjusted by other possible non refundable credits used.  Then look at the form 8812 to see how the refundable portion is calculated. 

If your refund is different from past years then review the 2018 & 2019 returns side by side ... which lines changed and why. 

[Hal_Al]

I’m single with "a dependent ".

You don't say how the dependent is related to you.  An unrelated dependent cannot be claimed for the (up to) $2000 child tax credit; but my still qualify for the $500 other dependent credit. A common example: you cannot claim your live in girl/boy friend's child for the child tax credit

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a CLOSE relationship test and residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.

See full rules at: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Ret...