How much am I supposed to get for adding my son as a dependent, I thought it was at least a thousand or 1500? I added him but nothing has applied to my refund.

[xmasbaby0 · Accepted solution]

Your tax refund is affected in a big way by how much you earned from working.  There is not a set amount you "get" for claiming a child.

Your refund is not broken down by how much you "get" for each dependent.  

There are several child-related credits you *may* get if you have a dependent child.

You might be getting the Child Tax Credit--that is not all a refund--it lowers the tax you owe, up to $2000 per child, but if you do not owe tax then you may not get the full amount of CTC.  In some cases, you could qualify for the "Additional Child Tax Credit" which is a refundable credit, and would increase your refund.  If you qualify for this credit, TurboTax calculates and automatically adds it to your refund.

You might be able to claim the child and dependent care credit if you paid someone to take care of your child so you could work. This is not a refundable credit, so it will not be in your refund.  It can lower the tax you owe.

You might qualify for Earned Income Credit, which is a refundable credit if you worked and earned income. The EIC is based on the amount you earned.  If you do qualify for EIC, TurboTax automatically calculates the amount and adds it to your refund.

Look at your 2018 tax return to see the child-related /dependent credits you received:

Child tax credit line 12a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 17b   (schedule 8812) 

Credit for Other Dependents line 12a

Earned Income Credit (EIC) line 17a

Child and Dependent Care Credit line 12     (comes from Schedule 3 Form 2441)

The dependents you listed are on the first page of your Form 1040 below your address.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900923-what-is-the-child-tax-credit

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900643-what-is-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit

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https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant

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