I messed up on my tax return, with the child income credit

[DoninGA]

If you have not paid for the online edition you are using, have not filed your tax return or registered the Free edition, then you can clear your return and start over. Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the program screen while working on the 2024 online tax return. Click on Clear & Start Over.

[xmasbaby0]

Did you already e-file?   If you already e-filed:

Did you click that big orange button that said “Transmit my return now?”  If you did that, you cannot do anything to fix it yet.  You have to wait for the email that tells you if your return was accepted or rejected.

You cannot change or add anything on the return that you just e-filed, nor can you stop it.  It is too late, just like when you put an envelope in a US mailbox on the corner.  The IRS does not allow you to take it back.

If you left out a W-2, a 1099G, or a dependent, or a 1099 etc…DO NOT change your return while it is “pending.”  The changes will go nowhere.

Now you have to wait until the IRS either rejects or accepts your return.  If your return is rejected, you will be able to go into your account and make the necessary changes to your tax return and re-submit your return. 

 If the IRS accepts your return, however, then you have to wait longer until it has been fully processed and you have received your refund.  THEN you can prepare an amended tax return and e-file or mail  it in. You have to be able to work from that return exactly the way it was when it was e-filed originally.  You will need to use a form called a 1040X.

  Meanwhile, DO NOT go in and start changing anything on your return in the system, or you will make a mess for yourself.  Sit tight and wait until you see what the IRS does with the return you just e-filed

And.....how did you "mess up?"   Are you referring to the child tax credit?   The childcare credit?   Earned income credit?   (There is nothing called the "child income credit")