Why is my return so low this year 2025

[Heaven9]

Hello I filed my taxes this year 2025
I only made $6043 bucks for the year of 2024 . I filed head of household single with two dependents my daughter which is 16 and my son which is 10.  also on my tax withholding sheet  1040 - w4 fprm from my employer I was at zero for withholding taxes. 
my return that I’m getting this year is only $2995.  Why is this amount so low.  

[JohnB5677]

The child tax credit for tax year 2024 (Filed in 2025) is $2,000 per qualified child.

If you have your 2023 tax return, I suggest you do a line by line comparison.

Pay particular attention to lines:

• 19 - Child tax Credit and
• 28 - Additional Child Tax Credit

[xmasbaby0]

Sorry---your amount is so low because it is based on earning only a very low amount of income from working.

Using the amount you say you earned---$6043

Look at the EIC table in IRS Publication 596 on page 29 -- do you see the amount of EIC for HOH with 2 children?

  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p596.pdf

What is on line 27 of your Form 1040?

And.....take your income of $6043 -$2500, which equals  $3453 and multiply by 15%   --- That should give you the amount of additional child tax credit for each child under 17.  About $532 per child----So what is on line 28 of your Form 1040?

  The maximum amount of the child tax credit is now $2000 per child; the refundable “additional child tax credit” amount is $1700.   In order to get that credit, you have to have income from working.  The credit is calculated based on the amount you earned above $2500 multiplied by 15%, up to the full $1700 per child. If the amount you earned was too low, you will not get the full $1700.

 If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2024, you do not get the CTC.  But you may still get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents instead.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/child-tax-credit/L2lNhfGDl_US_e...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/additional-child-tax-credit/L6x...

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/does-my-childdependent-qualify-for-the-child-tax-credit-or-the-credit-f...

And for the Earned Income Credit—-

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-credits-deductions/qualifications-ea...

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant

Look at your 2024 Form 1040 to see the child-related credits you received

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/preview-turbotax-online-retur...

Child Tax Credit line 19

Credit for Other Dependents line 19

Earned Income Credit line 27

Additional Child Tax Credit line 28

AND….If you have children but had  little or no income, it raises the question of how you and the children were supported.  There may be another tax-paying adult who can claim you and/or the children as dependents.  

[Hal_Al]

Your income is too low.  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 $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 28 of form 1040 (2021- 2024) instead of line 19. The  ACTC is calculated on form 8812 and  is basically 15% of your earned income over $2500. The ACTC is a maximum of $1700 (2024) ($1600 for 2023, $1500 for 2022) per child, not $2000.

With your lower income, for 2024, your Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC or EITC), line 27 of form 1040, is also lower. 

[Heaven9]

what should I do to increase my return next year. 

since this year my return was so low with two dependent children 10yrs and 16 yrs old ,  single and head of household .  Im only getting back $2,985  . 0n my return .. my wages for the year was $6,000

I understand I made only $6000 this year in wages and my withholding on my 1040 form was zero. 

should I change the amount  from zero to a higher amount for withholding on my 1040 W-2 form.  By doing this would it  increase my chances of getting more money next year on my return

I will still claim had a household with two children next year they will be 11 and 17. 

[xmasbaby0]

what should I do to increase my return next year

Work more and earn more than $6000.    You are going to lose the child tax credit for the child who turns 17 in 2025.   Changing your withholding on such a low amount of income will not have any effect on next year's refund.    The key is to earn more.