Why is turbo tax not allowing me to claim the child tax credit

[bilks]

I know my 15 year old qualified for the Child Tax Credit, but my IRS portal STILL has us as "pending eligibility" as of 12/31/21, and I have not received advanced payments. I thought we would simply claim the full 3K on the 2021 returns, but Turbo Tax is saying that my child does not qualify. I already triple checked his dependent info and everything is correct. What's going on?

[Critter-3]

Ok ... again are you married?  Are you filing jointly or separetly? 

Not married ?   Do you live with the other spouse?   

If you don't live with the other spouse who did the child live with more ?  Who is going to claim the child ?

[dessa722]

Turbo Tax doesn't seem to be giving any additional dependent credit except the advance payments.  It isn't calculating the rest of what I should receive.  

[Critter-3]

Ok  .... the program gives you the entire CTC once you entered a qualifying child in the MY INFO section and then once you got to the CTC section of the interview and enter how much you got in advance that amount reduces the credit naturally.   So the amount you got in advance will either reduce your refund  or increase your balance due. 

Unfortunately this is not the best way to deliver this information and the program really should wait until you get to the CTC portion of the interview but alas the programmers did not ask us users before they set it up that way.  Same thing applies to the advance stimulus payments ... the program starts off assuming you did not get any of the third payment and then when you enter the amount you did get in advance the refund is reduced by that amount or the balance due increases.  

ALSO ... just because the entire CTC is refundable this year doesn't mean you will get the entire amount in the refund.  The CTC is first used to negate your income tax bill on the return just like it always did.  So review the form 8812  and the 1040 lines 19 & 28 to see the amount of the credit you got. 

You can peek at only  the Federal form 1040 and the summary of the state info by going here:

1) lower- Left side of the screen...click to the left side of the "Tax Tools" text selection.
2)  then select "Tools"
3) then select "View Tax Summary" from the pop-up
4) then back to the left-side and "Preview 1040"

Then hit the "Back" on the left side to get back to your tax entries.

To view your entire return using the online editions (including the state) before you file, you will need to pay for your online account.

To pay the TurboTax online account fees by credit card, without completing the 2021 return at this time, click on Tax Tools >>> Tools  and then Print Center.  Then click on Print, save or preview this year's return.  On the next page, to pay by credit card, click Continue.  On the next screen it will ask if you want Audit Defense, if you do not want this option just click on the Continue button.  The next screen will ask for all your credit card information so you can pay for the account.