If the site said I was eligible for the Child tax Credit, why didn't I receive it?

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-for-other-dependents

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-eic-or-eitc

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

Even though you may be eligible for the Child Tax Credit, law changes for tax year 2022 could result in your not being able to benefit from it this year.

For tax year 2022, the Child Tax Credit reverts back to the benefits available prior to the American Rescue Plan as follows:

• Reverts back to up to $2,000 for 2022 – 2025
• Each dependent child must be under age 17
• Refundable up to $1,400, but no longer fully refundable
• Advance payments were not issued for tax year 2022 
• The credit is available if you earn up to $200,000 as single taxpayer or head of household (or up to $400,000 if you are a married couple filing jointly)

Because the credit is not fully refundable this year, if you don't have a tax liability against which to apply the credit, you may not be able to use the credit to get a refund.

See this article for more information about law changes for 2022.

You can preview your return before filing to review the forms that TurboTax has prepared from your entries and to find out how your taxes were calculated. See here for details.