I have a child and im only getting 620 back and im trying to find out why

[warren-r-snyder]

The child tax credit is 2000 per kid, of which only 1600 is refundable. The other 400 can go toward payment of taxes owed, but not back to you. I suspect your only getting $620 back because you owed $980 in taxes ABOVE what had been withheld in the tax year in question. 

[xmasbaby0]

The reply above may be partially correct, but only partially.  Your child-related credits are affected in a big way by how much income you earned by working.  If you only earned a small amount of money in 2019 then you will not get a big refund.

Make sure you have entered your child as a dependent in My Info, and that you have entered the child's Social Security number.  Make very sure that you have entered every cent of income you received in 2019 in Federal>Wages and Income.  Every 2019 W-2 and every 2019 1099 you received have to be entered on the same tax return.

Your earned income credit is based on how much you earned by working.  There is a link below that you can use to see how much EIC you should be getting for the number of children you claimed under your filing status--Single, Head of Household or Married Filing Jointly.   (If you file married filing separately you cannot get EIC)

The child tax credit is a credit of UP to $2000, but not everyone gets the full amount.  First the credit is applied to any tax you owe.  Then the "refundable" amount of up to $1400 is calculated.  Look at box 1 of your W-2.  Subtract $2500 from that.  Then take that number and multiply by 15%.  That is your refundable amount --or "additional child tax credit" amount.

WHY DIDN'T I GET BACK MORE FOR MY DEPENDENT?

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 2019 Form 1040 to see the child-related credits you received

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing

Child Tax Credit line 13a

Credit for Other Dependents line 13a

Earned Income Credit line 18a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 18b

Child and Dependent Care Credit line 18d

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899157-what-are-the-qualifications-for-the-earned-income-credit-e...

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...