I'm married filing jointly with 2 dependent kids, but am only receiving a total of $1,000 in child tax credits.

[manda-abrams]

My income is around $92,000

[Bsch4477]

If your dependents are over age 16 you would be entitled to $500 for each. 

[Opus 17]

Exactly $500 is the credit for "other dependents."  Reasons for this can include:

• child is age 17 or older (double check the birthdate)
• child is not a blood relative or legally adopted or a stepchild by marriage (review your answers in the interview)
• child did not live with you in your home more than half the year (if you select 6 months, turbotax reads that as exactly half, not more than half; you need to select 7 months or more.)
• Child provided more than half their own support (check your answer in the interview)
• Child does not have a valid SSN.

[xmasbaby0]

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

[manda-abrams]

None of the exceptions apply to me. My kids are 6 and 12. Is there no way for me to get actual help from Turbo Tax w/o paying for it?

[xmasbaby0]

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.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/child-tax-credit/L2lNhfGDl_US_e...

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—-

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-credits-deductions/qualifications-ea...

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

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/preview-turbotax-online-retur...

Child Tax Credit line 19

Credit for Other Dependents line 19

Earned Income Credit line 27

Additional Child Tax Credit line 28

[manda-abrams]

thank you so much. I actually got a live person on the phone from turbo tax and he showed me that I'd erroneously checked that the SSN was "not valid for employment". that would've cost me $3k!!! thank goodness it's resolved.

[Opus 17]

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@manda-abrams wrote:

None of the exceptions apply to me. My kids are 6 and 12. Is there no way for me to get actual help from Turbo Tax w/o paying for it?

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That's complicated.  Turbotax offers technical help (the program doesn;t work right) for free, but tax help requires an upgrade.  I don't know where this would follow.  If you call customer support, they can do a screen share and look at your return with you but I don't know if it would be free or not.

Before calling, try deleting both dependents, and then re-entering them and pay careful attention to all the questions.