Why only $183 in Child tax credit?

33cece7bffce · ‎March 1, 2024

I claimed my child for the last 2 years and everything was fine, now it’s such a low return. Why?

DawnC · ‎March 1, 2024

Your child tax credit may appear on 2 lines on Form 1040. Check lines 19 and 28 to see the total of your tax credit. Preview Form 1040

You can get up to $2,000 for each child under age 17 if your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) is less than:

$400,000 if you're Married Filing Jointly or a Qualifying Surviving Spouse, or
$200,000 for all other filing statuses

If your AGI is higher than that, the amount of Child Tax Credit you're eligible for is reduced by $50 for each $1,000 your modified AGI is above the income threshold. For example, if you're Married Filing Jointly making $401,000, you’re eligible for a total credit of $1,950.

In 2023, the tax credit will be refundable only up to $1,600, depending on your income. You must have earned income of at least $2,500 to be eligible for the refund.

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Hal_Al · ‎March 2, 2024

The child tax credit is not a flat $2000 per child.

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- 2023) 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 $1600 (2023) ($1500 for 2022) per child, not $2000.