Why am I not receiving child tax credit, I don't owe taxes, I have 2 qualifying dependents, and I didnt make over $14,000? I should be receiving the $2000/dependent.

[jhonnagoodwin07]

I am filing as head of household also.

[HelenC12]

No, you don't automatically get $2,000 per dependent.

I recreated your tax situation in TurboTax. 

• The Child Tax Credit and the  Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) could be worth up to $2,000 for each child, under age 17, depending on your income. However, since your income is $14,000, you don't owe any taxes so the Child Tax Credit is not needed to get your taxes down to zero. 
• The ACTC can be worth up to $1,500 per qualifying child depending on your income. You did not get the full $1,500 for each child because you also qualified for the Earned income credit. 
• Please see your Form 8812 Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents for the calculation and split of credits reported on your income tax return. The IRS has a formula for this.  

However, in my example using your information, you may qualify for an Earned Income Credit of approximately $5,000.

[xmasbaby0]

The 2021 child-related credits were very generous.  Lots of people are being taken by surprise this year when they find out the credits for 2022 are lower than they were last year.

The tax laws changed for child-related credits and are much less generous for 2022.

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 2022 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 2022?  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 2022 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 2022 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 $1500.   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 $1500 per child. If the amount you earned was too low, you will not get the full $1500.

 If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2022, 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://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 2022 will be based on the income you earned by working in 2022.

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

Look at your 2022 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 19

Credit for Other Dependents line 19

Earned Income Credit line 27

Additional Child Tax Credit line 28