Child Tax Credit

[Jhelleksen]

In 2020 my child tax credit was $6,000.00 for 3 Kids  In 2021 I received $4,500.00 in Child Tax Credit Payments and that is all that the program is giving me credit for.  Shouldn't the child Tax Credit in 2021 be $9,000.00 for 3 kids?  And how do I change that in the Turbo Tax Program?

[RaifH]

In order to enter your advanced Child Tax Credit payments into TurboTax:

1. If you do not have Letter 6419 which states the Advanced Child Tax Credit you already received, you can get the information from the IRS website. 
2. In your TurboTax return search for Child Tax Credit and Continue.
3. Answer the question on the Let's start with where you spent the most time in 2021 screen and Continue.
4. On the Tell us about any advance Child Tax Credit payments screen, answer Yes, enter the amount from your letter in the Tell us about any advance Child Tax Credit payments box, and Continue.
   1. If your spouse also received payments, be sure to enter that amount as well as a combined total for both of you.
5. Answer the questions on the following screens, confirm your amount on the Let's recheck your advance Child Tax Credit payments screen, and Continue.

It sounds like you may have entered $4,500 for both yourself and your spouse. That would result in the system calculating that you already received the full $9,000 that you were due. The letters should break it into half for each of you, so $2,250 each.

[Jhelleksen]

I did enter $2,250 each for a total of $4,500.00.  It is giving me a total Child Tax Credit of $4,500.00 for 2021.  I believe that number should be $9,000.00 but the program doesn't let me change it.

[JamesG1]

Are you able to view the computation that the software made for the actual credit?

If you can view the entire 2021 1040 Federal tax return at Tax Tools / Print Center, you will see: 

• Line 12 of Federal Schedule 8812 which computes the total Child Tax Credit, and
• Line 28 of the Federal 1040 which reports the refundable amount.

The full amount of the Child Tax Credit is not reported on the 2021 1040 Federal tax return, only the net amount after applying the advance payments.

To view these forms in TurboTax Desktop version, click on Forms in the upper right hand corner of the screen.