There is not a deduction for a dependent child. As a single parent or a married couple you get a standard deduction which will be on line 12 of your Form 1040. Personal exemptions have been gone since the tax laws changed for 2018 and beyond. There are several child-related credits you can get for a a child --including child tax credit, earned income credit, and the childcare credit.
Are you getting the head of household deduction or the the single person standard deduction? If it is $21,900, it is Head of Household, if it is giving you single, then it is $14,600. you will find this on line 12 of your 1040.
For your qualifying child, you may get a $2,000 child tax credit or a $500 Other dependent credit, depending on how old they are. If the child is 17 or old, then you would only get the $500 Other Dependent Credit IF you have a tax liability as this is a non-refundable credit. You can find the Child Tax Credit on line 19 as well as the Other Dependent Credit. You also must have earned income to get these credits.
You would also see a checkmark by their name on the top section of the 1040 under Child Tax Credit or Other Dependent Credit to tell you which they are eligible for.
If you qualified for the Additional Child Tax Credit, you would find this on line 28 of your 1040.
If you are not seeing any credits, then you can go back through the personal info section and double check that you answered all the questions about your children accurately. If they qualify, and the questions are answered accurately, TurboTax will give you the credits you are eligible for.
Make sure you have entered your child as a dependent in My Info, and that you have entered the child's Social Security number. Careful— do not say that your child’s SSN is not valid for employment. If your child was born in 2024 make sure you said he lived with you the whole year. There is an oddly worded question that asks if the child paid over half their own support. Say NO to that question.
Have you entered income from working in 2024? If not, you will not receive an income tax refund based on having dependent children.
The maximum amount of the child tax credit is now $2000 per child; the refundable “additional child tax credit” amount is $1700. In order to get that credit, you have to have income from working.
Take the amount you earned from working. Subtract $2500. Multiply the rest by 15%. That is the additional child tax credit per child that you can get—- up to the maximum of $1700 per child. If the amount you earned from working was low, you will not get the full $1700 per child.
If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2024, you do not get the CTC. But you may still get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents instead.
And for the Earned Income Credit—-
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p596.pdf
Look at your 2024 Form 1040 to see the child-related credits you received
PREVIEW 1040
Child Tax Credit line 19
Credit for Other Dependents line 19
Earned Income Credit line 27
Additional Child Tax Credit line 28