I am wondering if I am able to receive more with 4 children. I never claimed my newborn on my W2 in 2023 and now I am filing my taxes and only receiving 1700 for all 4?

[xmasbaby0]

Child-related credits are based on how much you earned by working.  And even if you have more than three children, you do not get more earned income credit.   You cannot get EIC for more than 3 children, even if you have four or ten.

It sounds like you did not earn much if your credit is $1700.

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 2023 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 2023?  If not,  you will not receive an income tax refund based on having dependent children.

The rules for getting the child tax credit on a 2021 tax return and now on a 2023 return are very different.  For 2021 you could get $3600 for a child under 6 or $3000 for a child between 6 and 17 even if you had no income/did not work.   That is NOT the way it will work for your 2023 tax return.  The “old” rules are back. 

  The maximum amount of the child tax credit is now $2000 per child; the refundable “additional child tax credit” amount is $1600.   In order to get that credit, you have to have income from working.  The credit is calculated based on the amount you earned above $2500 multiplied by 15%, up to the full $1600 per child. If the amount you earned was too low, you will not get the full $1600.

 If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2023, you do not get the CTC.  But you may still get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents instead.

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/additional-child-tax-credit/L6x...

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/does-my-childdependent-qualify-for-the-child-tax-credit-or-the-credit-f...

And for the Earned Income Credit—-the rules are back to the “old” rules—

Those under 25 and over 65 without children are not eligible as they were uniquely in 2021.   And you cannot use your income from any earlier tax year to get the EIC for a 2022 return.  There is no “lookback” for 2022.  EIC for 2023 will be based on the income you earned by working in 2023.

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

[Mike9241]

surprisingly if you had claimed 4 dependents on your w-4 your refund could have been even less because the withholding would have been reduced.

[djmarie11]

@Mike9241  I had only claimed 3 on my W4.

I never claimed my newborn my whole year. I only had him in July

[djmarie11]

@xmasbaby0 

All 3 children are under 8, all lived with me all year,  no one claimed them etc. I am head of household and I have paid for everything. I am not sure why I an not receiving more for the child tax credit . It's only 1778.00 for all 4

I made a little more than 14,500.00 for the year, did I make to little?

[xmasbaby0]

@djmarie11 If you entered your children correctly as dependents, then your child tax credit should be more.   Go back to My Info and make sure you entered their Social Security numbers and that you did not say the numbers were not valid for employment.    

Make sure you entered all of the income you earned in 2023.  

Check lines 27 (earned income credit) and 

Line 28 for the refundable additional child tax credit on your Form 1040

PREVIEW 1040

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

[VolvoGirl]

Go back and double check the new child under My Info.  You  need to pick the whole year. 

Did your child live with you for the whole year? Answer YES even if they were born late in the year even on Dec 31. And same for how many months in the USA

Then was at least half of child's expenses paid by CHILD? Usually is NO, Child didn't pay for more than half of their living expenses.

Keep going to the end of the section.

[djmarie11]

@xmasbaby0 

So all information is correct there social, year etc . I also checked income . What lines are you talking about because everything is placed in the right spot

[xmasbaby0]

@djmarie11 Look at your Form 1040.  I gave you a link to preview it.  Look at lines 27 and 28.  What do you see there?