Why am I not getting the entire child tax credit for my daughter?

[keyismyfav]

Do you have to make a certain amount of money to get the entire child tax credit? I was off work awhile this year but still made a decent amount in the end. So I was just wondering if I didn't make enough. Bc it isn't giving me the whole child tax credit.

[ThomasM · Accepted solution]

There are a few possibilities.  One is that you made too much money and fell victim to the AGI phase out at your particular filing status (credit begins to phase out at $75k for Single, HOH, or Qualified Widow(er), $110k for MFJ, and $55k for MFS).

Another possibility is that the calculation of the credit -- there are two ways to compute it, and you must take the smaller of the two -- resulted in the credit being less than the $1000 maximum.  Here is a link to IRS Publication 972, Child Tax Credit, which discusses all aspects of the credit and how it's calculated (see the tax credit worksheets, pp.5-8:  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p972.pdf

One other possibility is that the amount of tax you owed was already under the amount of the credit ($1000), and since the credit is non-refundable it can only reduce your tax liability to zero.  In this scenario, however, taxpayers often qualify to receive the difference as an Additional Child Tax Credit (line 67 on the form 1040; line 43 on the 1040A).  Take a look at your return to see if there's a figure on that line.