Why is the "Your tax breaks" section only showing the advance Child Tax Credit? It doesn't appear to be counting the full $3000 for children 6 through 17.

[tmurphydoc]

Child Tax Credit - "Your tax breaks" section only showing advance payments

[xmasbaby0]

Federal>Deductions and Credits>You and Your Family>Child Tax Credit

The IRS is sending out letter 6419 to you.  It will show the amount of advance child tax credit that you received during 2021.  Enter the information from that letter carefully.   The remaining amount of CTC that you can receive will show up on line 28 of your 2021 Form 1040.

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing

Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the screen. Click on Tools. Click on View Tax Summary. Click on Preview my 1040 on the left side of the screen.

NOTE:   The CTC is indeed a “credit” that can be applied toward any tax liability that you would otherwise have to pay as “tax due”  to the IRS.

And…..Ignore that “refund monitor.”  The software STARTS OFF by giving you the full amount of CTC.   When you enter the amounts from your letter, the software reconciles the amount you received with the amount you can still get IF you are eligible to get the other half.     You are NOT losing any of the credit; you are not being taxed on the credit.  Don’t get confused by the reconciled amount.   You got some of it already—-now you get the rest.

 If you received the advance payment and are NOT eligible to get the other half, then it will not show up on line 28.  (Such as in some cases where the wrong parent got the advance payments, etc.)

That “refund monitor” should not be taken seriously until every last morsel of your data has been entered.

[tmurphydoc]

Thanks for your reply.  I didn't realize I had to pay to see the 1040.  This helped a lot.  On the 1040, on line 19, I only see $500 for the one over 17 child.  On line 28 I see the $1500 advance payments I received (6 payments X $250).  The other qualifying child is between 6 and 17.  I read on the IRS website that for $2021, the full amount for this qualifying child should be $3000.  Shouldn't the other half be somewhere on the 1040?

[VolvoGirl]

Line 28 is not the payments you already got.  Line 28 is the extra missing amount you get now.  The advance payments you got don't go on your tax return.   

Turbo Tax started out giving you the full amount.  Then you enter what you already received so it subtracts it.  Check 1040 lines 19 and 28 and schedule 8812.

Before filing,  You can preview the 1040 or print the whole return

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/accessing/help/how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-f...

[tmurphydoc]

Thanks for your reply. That makes sense. On the "Tax History Report" it only shows "Total credits: $500".  Does that sound right based on my previous replies?  I was expecting $3500 total based on the age of my two children (one child age 6 to 17 and one child over 17).  For 2020, it shows $2500 total credits, which is correct for that year, since the CTC was less that year ($2000 for one child age 6 to 17 and $500 for one child over 17).

[xmasbaby0]

If you have one child who turned 18 before the end of 2021 you do not get child tax credit for him---you get the $500 credit for other dependents.    (line 19)    For a child between the age of 6 and 17 you get a total of $3000 but remember if you got those monthly payments between July and August you already got $1500 for that child.  So you only get another $1500 as part of your refund for 2021.   Do you have $1500 on line 28?   That is the second "half" of the CTC.

[tmurphydoc]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, one child turned 18 before the end of 2021.  Yes, I do see $1500 on line 28.  I suppose I do not understand why the credit is only $500 since the other child is between 6 and 17.  Shouldn't the full credit be $1500?  This is my train of thought since the full credit is $3000 for the 6-17 child subtracting the $1500 advance payments I received over those 6 months.

[xmasbaby0 · Accepted solution]

You are still just not understanding.   If you see $1500 on line 28 that is the second half of the $3000 for the younger child.   The tax form is not going to show you $3000.   It is showing you the second half of the child tax credit.

Look at line 28---

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing

Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the screen. Click on Tools. Click on View Tax Summary. Click on Preview my 1040 on the left side of the screen.

And you only get $500 for the older child.   That is on line 19.   Credits can be used to pay your tax liability.    So it is possible that if you have some tax to pay, the credit will be used toward what you owe.

[tmurphydoc]

Thanks again for your reply.  I do see on line 19 of the 1040 the $500 and $1500 on line 28 (and then again on line 32).  I suppose I will review this all again as you are correct, I don't understand why my tax liability is higher this year. I did get a small raise but I am still in the same tax bracket while the CTC itself went up by $1000 for the one qualifying child.  Perhaps something else changed between 2020 and 2021 laws.  I owed $50 something last year while this year I owe $350.  Just trying to understand that.

[xmasbaby0]

This is a very confusing tax year for lots of people.   One big change for you is having a child "age out" of getting the child tax credit.  And the way the software shows the credit is confusing to people.  It does the right calculations but in a very confusing way to users.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/tax-payments/video-why-would-i-owe-federal-taxes/L3VXudPiN

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/refunds/help/why-did-my-refund-go-down-compared-to-last-year-s/00/...

And ......did you get the 3rd EIP payments already for yourself and the kids?   Make sure you enter the EIP payments you received --- and if the IRS still owes you a 3rd stimulus payment it will show up on line 30.  

go through the Federal Review section for the recovery rebate credit.

[tmurphydoc]

Definetly confusing :).  Interesting thing is one child was already 18 by the end of 2020 which furthers my confusion.  Mortgate interest, property taxes, our salaries are all pretty close to those of last year.   We did receive the 3rd EIP and reported that on the return. 

[tmurphydoc]

After reveiwing the numbers again, the 2020 return shows total CTC was $2500 and 2021 shows $2000.  Now that I know those numbers are the credits themselves not counting the advance payments, it makes sense.  It would be $3500 had I not received the advance payments.  So the $500 less in total credits accounts for that extra $500 I owe this year.