My natural born child meets ALL of the criteria that should result in a $2000 tax credit. Turbo Tax continues to show $500, and won't even let us correct the mistake!

[CarolynM]

If the child was born in 2018, make sure you are reporting they lived with you the entire year because they lived with you the entirety of their life.

Be aware that the Child Tax Credit requirements have changed and all of the following must be met:

·       Child must be younger than age 17 by December 31 

·       Must by your child (biological, step, adopted or foster); brother or sister; niece, nephew or grandchild 

·       Must provide half their support 

·       Must be claimed as your dependent (see Qualifying Child Test) 

·       Must be US Citizen, US National or Resident Alien 

·       Must live with you more than half the year 

·       Must have a SSN or have been issued an alternative tax number before 2018

[petervdl]

Let me REPEAT myself.  My child meets ALL of the requirements Turbo Tax itself, lists as applicable to the $2000 tax credit.  Your software, unless you are withholding some important piece of information, shows that we qualify for this credit.  And yet, you will not even grant us the ability to correct, what seems to be a VERY OBVIOUS mistake.

Is this the end of our long relationship with Turbo Tax?  Either provide us with an adequate reason as to why our natural born, 15 year old child, with her own social security number, being declared on a joint married tax return, is NOT deserving of this credit, or allow us the ability to correct your mistake!!!

Or we will be forced to find other means of producing our returns in the future.

I'm getting tired of asking this question, and being provided with the same, inadequate answers to the question!!!!

[petervdl]

And let me clarify further:  My child has NO income of her own.  We provide ALL of her support.  We are still married and are filing jointly, as we have always done.  Our combined income, is LESS than $125,000 a year, from ALL sources.

Turbo Tax, after REPEATED questions, has done nothing to help, but send the same redundant information continuously.  NONE of which identifies why this credit is being calculated incorrectly!!!

And YES, I am running the latest TTax updates.

[CarolynM]

We don't have access to your tax return on this forum. I suggest a Live Review to go over your return line by line to determine why the credit has not been applied and limited to the standard credit for dependents.
Follow this link to get started:
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/turbotax-news/turbotax-live-offers-cpas-to-answer-your-tax-question...>

[SweetieJean]

@TurboTaxCarolynM  The CTC link you gave above is broken.

[xmasbaby0]

There has been lots of hype in the news about the new $2000 Child Tax Credit.  Unfortunately, some people do not yet understand that it does not mean they will automatically receive $2000 per child just for filing a tax return.

Do not assume your refund will include $2000 per child for child tax credits.  It does not work that way.  The CTC is used first to reduce your tax liability to zero. After that, there is a refundable portion —up to $1400 — called the Additional Child Tax Credit that is calculated based on the amount of income you earned.  You do not necessarily get the maximum amount.  You get 15% of the amount of income earned above $2500--UP to the maximum amount possible.

If your child turned 17 in 2018, even on the last day of 2018, you do not get the child tax credit.  There are no exceptions to the rule.  You can still claim your child as a dependent.

Your child must have a Social Security number to get the CTC.  

If your child was born in 2018 you need to say the child lived with you for the WHOLE year.

If your child lived with you for less than half the year you cannot get CTC.

If you did not earn at least $2500 you cannot receive the child tax credit.  Beyond that amount the CTC you receive is affected by your tax liability and the amount you earned.  You might not get the full $2000 of CTC.

The child tax credit is reduced by $50 for every $1000 of AGI over these limits:

Married filing jointly                $400,000    (CTC disappears at $440,000)

Single, Head of Household, Married Filing Separately or qualifying widower               $200,000  (CTC disappears at $240,000)

Look at your 2018 tax return to see the credits you received:

Child tax credit line 12a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 17b   (schedule 8812) 

Credit for Other Dependents line 12a

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3029430-why-is-my-child-tax-credit-smaller-this-year

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4505689-why-am-i-getting-the-credit-for-other-dependents-instead-o...

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

[petervdl]

AGAIN!!!!!  None of this information disqualifies my child!!!!  SHE WAS BORN IN 2004.  SHE HAS HER OWN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, BUT NO INCOME!!!

OUR TOTAL COMBINED AGI, IS LESS THAN $124,000, AND YET, I HAVE A $7000 TAX BILL THIS YEAR!!!!

PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, READ WHAT I AM WRITING, ACCURATELY, AND TELL ME WHAT DISQUALIFIES US???????

[CarolynM]

Based on what you have reported, she does. However, we can't see your tax file to determine why the program is not applied the credit.

[xmasbaby0]

Try this low tech solution that might help.  Go to My Info and delete the child.  Then re-enter your child as a dependent and go back through all of the screens and questions about her again.  Sometimes that clears it up.
And.....   calm down     --we are only trying to help you. It is necessary for us to point out the criteria for getting this credit, and for us to ask questions.   We have no access to your tax return so we cannot see for ourselves what you entered.

[SweetieJean]

@petervdl  Are you perchance claiming the Foreign Earned Income exclusion?

[macuser_22]

@petervdl - We cannot see your tax return.  We can only suggest reasons.

If you go through the child tax credit interview then it should tall you the reason. I suggest deleting the dependent and re-enter - that often fixes things like this.