Why Don't I get the Child Tax Credit?

[ablopez]

I have a daughter. She was born in March 2019 and I included her on my 2019 tax return. When I started to do my tax return online last week I saw that it asked me how much money I received in stimulus checks. After I input the amounts it told me that I was going to get a refund of $1,100. This is probably because I did not get any money for my daughter on my first or second stimulus checks. However, it does not appear to be applying any child tax credit to me. I know that this amount is refundable even if you do not owe money, so I'm concerned that I'm not doing something correctly. I do live and work abroad as a government contractor so I file exempt under the foreign earned income, physical presence test, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

[SweetieJean]

I know that this amount is refundable even if you do not owe money, 

That is incorrect.  The Child Tax Credit is nonrefundable.

[ablopez]

Child Tax Credit

I was under the impression it was, since I read this on the IRS website. 

"Taxpayers can claim the Child Tax Credit if they have a qualifying child under the age of 17 and meet other qualifications. The maximum amount per qualifying child is $2,000. Up to $1,400 of that amount can be refundable for each qualifying child. So, like the EITC, the Child Tax Credit can give a taxpayer a refund even if they owe no tax.

The qualifying child must have a valid Social Security number issued before the due date of the tax return, including extensions. For tax year 2019, this means April 15, 2020, or if a taxpayer gets a tax-filing extension, Oct. 15, 2020.

The amount of the Child Tax Credit begins to reduce or phase out at $200,000 of modified adjusted gross income, or $400,000 for married couples filing jointly."

[Critter-3]

Well you have no TAXABLE income since you exclude the foreign earnings  so your ACTC is zero ...

1. The child tax credit  (CTC) is also 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 $2500 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 18b of form 1040 (2019 version) instead of line 13a (lines 17 and 12 in 2018).   The  ACTC is calculated on form 8812 and  is basically 15% of your earned income over $2500. The ACTC is a maximum of $1400 per child (not $2000).

[macuser_22]

For the child tax credit of $2,000 per child.

The child must have been no older than 16 at the end of 2020.

The amount of child tax credit you can receive is limited by your taxable income (1040 line 15)
If your taxable income is zero, then you are not eligible for any child tax credit.

However, if you do not qualify for the Child Tax Credit, and if your earned income is greater than $2,500, you might be eligible for the Additional Child Tax credit. That amount is 15% of earned income greater then $2,500 up to a maximum of $1,400.

Too high of an income will reduce or eliminate the CTC also.
Married Filing Joint - $400,000
Single, Head of Household, or Married Filing Separate-- $200,000

The child tax credit will be reported on lone 19 on the 1040 form. Additional Child tax credit on line 28 on the 1040 form.

[ablopez]

Thank you! That was helpful information.