Why did I only receive $500 per child this tax return? I hardly make any money so it’s not because I make too much.

[ashleycherissecruz]

I am not married.

[xmasbaby0]

Do the children have Social Security numbers?   Were they over the age of 16?   If they do not have SSN's or if they are over 16 years old, you get the $500 credit for other dependents instead of the child tax credit.   If they have SSN's and are under 17, then you entered something incorrectly in MY INFO about them.  

[xmasbaby0]

Make sure you have entered your child as a dependent in My Info, and that you have entered the child's Social Security number.    Careful— do not say that your child’s SSN is not valid for employment.  If your child was born in 2024 make sure you said he lived with you the whole year.  There is an oddly worded question that asks if the child paid over half their own support.  Say NO to that question.

Have you entered income from working in 2024?  If not,  you will not receive an income tax refund based on having dependent children.

  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.  

Take the amount you earned from working.   Subtract $2500.   Multiply the rest by 15%.  That is the additional child tax credit per child that you can get—- up to the maximum of $1700 per child.   If the amount you earned from working was low, you will not get the full $1700 per child.

 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

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

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

[ashleycherissecruz]

They are both 7 and under. Do you know if I can still get the rest of my refund if I did it incorrectly? 

[xmasbaby0]

If you answered something incorrectly, you can amend to seek a better refund.   When you say you only got $500 per child----are you referring to the amount on line 19?   If so, then you need to check all of the screens in MY INFO when you amend and go very slowly.   Make sure you did not say their SSN was "not valid for employment."   And make sure you did not say the child paid for over half their own support--it is a weird oddly worded question that you have to be careful with and answer NO to.

Did you already e-file?   If you have not yet e-filed you can still go back through MY INFO and make changes.  Do not click on anything that says "amend" if you have not e-filed yet.

 If you already e-filed, then you need to wait for the IRS to fully process the return and then amend.

Wait until your original return has been fully processed before you amend, and make sure you have saved a pdf of the original return before you amend. (If you do not save it as a pdf, the amended return will overwrite the original, and the original will be lost forever)

See this TurboTax support FAQ for amending a tax return -

CURRENT YEAR

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/amend-federal-tax-return-curr...