Child Tax Credit and the Credit for Other Dependents

No matter how bad a child is, he is still a good tax credit. — Modification of an American Proverb

The child tax credit was enacted by Congress in 1997 to lower the tax burden on lower income Americans with children. The child tax credit (CTC) can be up to $2,000 for each qualifying child under age 17 by year-end, who is a US citizen, resident, national, or an adopted child who lived with you during the tax year; $1,700 of the credit is refundable for 2024, up from $1,600 for 2023, meaning that it is not limited by your tax liability, but it may be limited by your earned income.

Except for the fact that the child must be younger than 17, all other tests for a qualifying child under the dependency exemptions must be satisfied. Children who qualify include a natural child, stepchild, grandchild, great-grandchild, brother, sister, or step- or half-siblings or any of their descendants. The child tax credit can only be claimed for a 12-month tax year.

One test that differs for a qualifying child from the test for a qualifying relative is that you do not have to provide more than 50% of support for a qualifying child. For instance, a child receiving government assistance is not disqualified as a qualifying child, but the child cannot provide more than 50% of their own support.

A phaseout of the credit starts when modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) exceeds the phaseout amount:

MAGI

For most people, MAGI = adjusted gross income. The phaseout income threshold is not indexed for inflation and depends on filing status:

If your income exceeds the phaseout amount, then the credit is reduced by $50 for each $1,000, or fraction thereof, above the phaseout amount.

Example: Calculating the Child Tax Credit for Incomes Above the Phaseout Amount

Ava is a single parent with 2 dependent children who qualify for the child tax credit, and she earned $215,020 for the tax year. Because her income is $15,020 more than the phaseout amount of $200,000 for a head of household, she must reduce the $4,000 child tax credit that she would otherwise be entitled to by:

The $500 nonrefundable Credit for Other Dependents can be claimed for dependents who do not qualify for the child tax credit. Qualifying dependents include qualifying relatives who are US citizens, US nationals, or US resident alien, but not residents of Canada or Mexico who could otherwise qualify as a qualifying relative. A qualifying dependent needs to have a Social Security number, an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), if the resident alien is not eligible for a Social Security number, or an Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number (ATIN), which is a temporary identification number for children in the process of being adopted. The same MAGI limits that apply to the child tax credit also apply to the credit for other dependents.

The child tax credit and the credit for other dependents are figured on:

The credit for other dependents and $300 of the child tax credit are nonrefundable credits: they are limited by your ordinary income tax liability, which may be reduced by other claimed credits, such as the foreign tax credit, credit for child and dependent care expenses, education tax credits, and the retirement savings contribution credit. A nonrefundable credit does not offset payroll tax liability, i.e., Social Security and Medicare taxes.

If the IRS reduced or denied your CTC for the previous 3 years for other than a math or clerical error, you must file Form 8862, Information To Claim Certain Credits After Disallowance to claim the credit. If the credit was disallowed for recklessly or intentionally disregarding the rules, you cannot claim the credit for the next 2 years, for fraud, the disallowance period is 10 years.

Why Such a High-Income Limit for the CTC?

In 2017, the income limit for the CTC was $110,000 for a couple married filing jointly. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed at the end of 2017, increased the income limit so much that a couple earning $400,000 annually is still eligible for the full credit. The income limit was increased by the Republicans, even as they complained about the ever-expanding federal debt.

You may wonder why the income limit for the CTC was set so high. Does a couple earning $400,000 annually really need a child tax credit for help in raising their kids? After all, if they did, think how much a single mother making $50,000 annually or even less, as many do, would need. I do not know what motivated Congress to increase the income limit so much, especially since many continually complain about the ever soaring federal debt, but I can guess.

Since members of Congress earn almost $200,000 annually, and most of them earn additional income from investments and property rentals, increasing the limit to $400,000 would allow many of them to claim the credit.

Wouldn’t it be better if the CTC amount depended on income, and wouldn’t it be better for the federal debt if the income limit were a lot lower? Indeed, shouldn't single parents get more money than married couples since it would be much harder for single parents to raise children, and they would more likely need to pay someone to watch their children while they work? If the income limit were a lot lower, more money could be given to lower income parents who really do need the money to help raise their children. Even without increasing the federal deficit. I think members of Congress can survive without the CTC!

Additional Child Tax Credit

The ordinary child tax credit, like most other credits and deductions, has an implicit work requirement, because it can only be used to offset ordinary income tax liability and for most people, especially poor people, that income tax liability comes from earning more than the total sum of the other tax credits and deductions. The Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) is the refundable portion of the CTC, up to $1,700 for 2024. However, the ACTC is only claimed if you do not qualify for the full $2000 of the CTC.

The ACTC is not allowed if you filed Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income for the foreign earned income exclusion, for employer-financed foreign housing costs, or if self-employed, the deduction for foreign housing costs.

Because $300 of the child tax credit is nonrefundable, $1700 will be the maximum credit per child for families with little or no tax liability. And since the standard deduction has been greatly increased, many families will not benefit from the regular child tax credit. Meanwhile, a single parent who makes less than $10,000 will not only not benefit from the regular child tax credit, but they will not even get much of the Additional Child Tax Credit. Even though the Additional Child Tax Credit is refundable, the refundable amount is limited to 15% of earnings.

Although the child tax credit is limited to ordinary income tax liability or AMT liability, the ACTC may be claimed on Form 8812, Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents if your earned income exceeded $2,500, so it has an explicit work requirement. But if you have more than 2 children, then you can still claim a refundable credit even if your earned income is not over $2,500. The purpose of the earnings requirement is to promote work.

For instance, in 2024, the standard deduction is $21,900 for a head of household, so a parent with 1 child deducting that amount would have no ordinary income tax liability if income does not exceed that. This is without even considering other deductions or tax credits that the parent may claim, such as the earned income credit or a traditional IRA contribution. Therefore, the Additional Child Tax Credit provides most or all the tax savings for lower income taxpayers.

Richer taxpayers will have sufficient tax liability from ordinary earnings to claim the entire $2000 as the regular child tax credit. A parent with more children requires a higher income to rely only on the ordinary child tax credit.

Because it is refundable, the Additional Child Tax Credit can be used to reduce payroll tax liability. The refundable credit is limited to the lesser of the unclaimed portion of the nonrefundable credit amount or 15% of your earned income above $2,500. Combat zone pay, which is otherwise excludable, can be included in earned income when calculating the Additional Child Tax Credit.

Maximum Additional Child Tax Credit

Example: Calculating the Additional Child Tax Credit

Amy, who had earned income of $30,000, could only claim a $810 child tax credit for her 2 children since that was the extent of her ordinary income tax liability, which is figured thus:

Therefore, Amy can only claim $810 total of the regular child tax credit, but she can claim $3,190 of the refundable Additional Child Tax Credit for her 2 children.

Maximum total credit for 2 children = $810 + $3,190 = $4,000

Note: To keep this example simple, only earnings and the standard deduction are considered, but Amy would certainly qualify for other credits, such as the earned income credit.

Taxpayers with more than 2 children use this generalized procedure to calculate the ACTC:

  1. (Earned Income − $2,500) × .15
  2. Amount Taxpayer Paid in Social Security and Medicare Taxes as an Employee (listed in Boxes 4 and 6 of Form W-2) + 1/2 of any Self-Employment Taxes − Earned Income Credit
  3. Tentative Credit = Greater of #1 or #2
  4. Unclaimed Credit = Maximum Child Tax Credit − Claimed Portion of Credit
  5. Additional Child Tax Credit = Lesser of #3 or #4

Step 1 will usually be greater than Step 2 because most taxpayers qualifying for the ACTC will also qualify for the earned income credit, so this procedure will often reduce the credit per child for those who have more than 2 children. Let's use the example above for Amy, but calculate several cases with more children:

Example: Calculating the Additional Child Tax Credit for 3 or 4 Children

Amy still earned income of $30,000, but now she has more children:

Case #1: Amy has 3 children.

Case #2: Amy has 4 children.

Note that the earned income ACTC limit does not increase with the number of children, so lower income taxpayers will get less credit per child, and yet, it is lower income taxpayers that need the credit! On top of that, many of these taxpayers are single parents, many of whom would also have to pay someone to watch over their children while they work! I guess that Congress figured that lowering the amount given to poorer people would save money to help pay for the full credit given to couples earning up to $400,000 annually, including most members of Congress!

Step 4 and Step 5, together, ensure that this equation is always true:

Child Tax Credit + Additional Child Tax Credit ≤ Number of Children × $2,000

It seems that Congress intended to limit the Additional Child Tax Credit to the lower of either the taxpayer's payroll tax liability or to the unused portion of the child tax credit, to limit refunds: 15% of earned income is very close to the 15.3% payroll tax on earned income that is assessed on employees, the employer paying 1/2 of that, so Steps 1 and 2 seem to be designed to limit the additional credit to slightly less than the full payroll tax liability on the earned income. So a self-employed taxpayer who had no earnings as an employee would always select Step 1 since that will always exceed Step 2.

Note that Steps 2, 3, and 5 ensure that the child tax credit, unlike the earned income credit, will never exceed the taxpayer's total tax liability. So although it is a refundable tax, in that it reduces payroll tax liability, it is not a negative tax. However, 2 other refundable credits are listed after the Additional Child Tax Credit in the Payments section of Form 1040:

If either of the above credits can be claimed, then those may lead to a greater tax refund or will at least reduce the payroll tax liability for the self-employed.

Tip: if you can claim the child tax credit or the additional child tax credit and you want to receive more take-home pay, then increase your withholding allowances by filing a new Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate with your employer.

Longer Delays for Refunds for Taxpayers Claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit

People claiming the Additional Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit may wait longer for their refunds. The EITC is fully refundable, meaning that the taxpayer will receive a refund even if no taxes were paid. The ACTC is refundable, but only to the extent of paid taxes, including employment taxes. Because the regular child tax credit can only offset ordinary tax liability, most poor people mainly benefit from the ACTC. Most other tax credits cannot be used to lower employment tax liability. Other refundable tax credits, such as the Premium Tax Credit for healthcare coverage, are not subject to the delay. However, the whole refund will be delayed, not just the portion attributable to the EITC and the ACTC.

The IRS is required to delay refunds until at least February 15, for time to verify the claimed credits, because, previously, many refunds were paid erroneously due to errors in claiming the refund or from fraud. Therefore, there will be some delay regardless of when the tax return is filed, so taxpayers who want their money sooner should file as soon as possible.

This delay was enacted as a provision under the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, often known by its much briefer moniker, the Path Act.

Tax preparers may offer the tax refund sooner, but they are really offering a loan since the delay is required by law. These loans often have unfavorable terms, so they should be avoided.

The estimated time for refunds can be checked after February 15 using the IRS2Go mobile app, or by checking the Where's My Refund? - It's Quick, Easy and Secure page at IRS.gov.

Source: Refund Timing for Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit Filers

Historical Information

Pre-2018

MAGI Limits before 2018:

2018

After 2017, the earnings exclusion for the Additional Child Tax Credit was scheduled to rise from $3000 to $14,600, thus eliminating or reducing the credit for many poor families, but The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act, otherwise called the PATH Act, (Division Q of P.L. 114-113) has made the change a permanent part of the tax code.

2021

For tax year 2021 only, the Additional Child Tax Credit is not applicable for qualifying children since the entire amount of the child tax credit is refundable, but the old law will apply in 2022 and thereafter. However, the Additional Child Tax Credit can be claimed by taxpayers in 2021 if they did not qualify for the refundable child tax credit due to residency requirements. An alternative way of calculating the Additional Child Tax Credit can be found in Part II-B of Form 8812, Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents if the taxpayer has 3 or more children and paid Social Security and Medicare taxes exceeding their earned income credit.

2020 and 2022

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) increased the child tax credit to $2,000 per child, with up to $1400 being refundable. However, the personal exemption was eliminated, though a $500 credit can be claimed for dependents other than children qualifying for the child tax credit. The income phaseout amount has also been increased to $400,000 married filing jointly, and $200,000 for everyone else. A dependent who does not qualify for the child tax credit may qualify for the dependent credit, up to $500 for each dependent. To qualify for the child tax credit, each child must have a Social Security number before the due date of the return, including extensions. If the dependent child does not have a Social Security number, but has an ITIN, then the $500 dependent credit may be claimed for that child. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act also reduced the earnings threshold from $3000 to $2500, starting in 2018.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2021 (H.R. 133), signed into law on December 27, 2020, allows taxpayers to substitute 2019 earned income for 2020 earned income for both the Earned Income Tax Credit and for the Additional Child Tax Credit, if it is better to do so, but this substitution may not be used to calculate any other tax items, such as gross and taxable income.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA): Enhanced Child Tax Credit for 2021 Only

The Democrats have greatly increased the generosity of the child tax credit. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) has greatly increased the child tax credit for the poor, eliminating the work requirement, extending the age of qualifying children to 17, and making the credit fully refundable and half of it advanceable. However, these changes only apply to the 2021 tax year, after which it will revert to previous law. These are the major provisions: