Child & Dependent Tax Credit: Estimate Your Credit

Last updated: July 15, 2026

Who Qualifies for the Child Tax Credit

You have two kids, ages 8 and 14, and your coworker says you should be getting $4,400 back from the Child Tax Credit. Come tax time, your refund shows a fraction of that. The credit doesn't convert to a dollar-for-dollar refund: your tax liability and earned income decide how much is actually refundable versus how much just erases what you already owed.

For 2026, the federal child tax credit is up to $2,200 per qualifying child under age 17. That figure moved: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised it from $2,000 and made the increase permanent, indexed for inflation from 2026 onward, so older guides still quoting $2,000 are out of date. There's also the Other Dependent Credit, $500 for dependents who don't qualify for the full credit (a 17-year-old, or an elderly parent you support). The catch most people miss: if your tax liability is lower than your total credit, you won't see the rest as a refund unless you have enough earned income to unlock the refundable portion, which caps at $1,700 per child for 2026.

This estimator shows your total credit, how much phases out at higher incomes, and the split between refundable and non-refundable portions—so you know what to actually expect on your return. If your income is modest, run the EITC Eligibility Checker too, since the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit often stack on the same return.

Eligibility Checklist

Child Tax Credit ($2,200 per child, 2026)

• Age: Child must be under 17 at the end of the tax year
• Relationship: Son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, sibling, or their descendant
• Residency: Lived with you for more than half the year
• Support: Child didn't provide more than half their own support
• Citizenship: U.S. citizen, national, or resident alien with a valid SSN (ITINs don't qualify)
• Dependent status: You claim them as a dependent on your return
• Joint return: Child didn't file a joint return (except to claim a refund)

Other Dependent Credit ($500 per dependent)

• Dependents 17+: Children who aged out of the CTC
• Qualifying relatives: Elderly parents, adult children, other relatives you support
• Non-refundable: Only offsets tax liability—no cash refund from this credit

Income Thresholds (When Phaseout Begins)

Credit reduces by $50 for every $1,000 of income above the threshold (rounded up). Those thresholds are set in statute and aren't indexed, so unlike the credit amount they don't move with inflation.

Two Example Calculations

Example 1: Middle-Income Family With Full Credit

Situation: Sarah files as Head of Household with $72,000 MAGI and two qualifying children (ages 6 and 11). Her federal tax liability before credits is $5,800.

Because her liability is larger than her credit, the whole $4,400 works as a non-refundable offset against tax owed. The refundable portion never comes into play for her, which is the good case: it means she had enough tax liability to use the credit in full.

Example 2: Low Tax Liability With Refundable Portion

Situation: Marcus files Single with $28,000 MAGI (all earned income) and one qualifying child (age 4). His federal tax liability before credits is $800.

The refundable ACTC reaches him because his earned income clears the bar comfortably. Below $2,500 of earned income he'd get nothing refundable, just the $800 offset. Note that all three limits bind in a real calculation: the leftover credit, the per-child cap, and the 15% earned-income formula. Whichever is smallest is what you get.

What Each Field Means

• Tax Year: 2026 or 2025. The credit amount is $2,200 for both, but don't carry that assumption backward: it was $2,000 through 2024, which is why we don't offer 2024 here rather than quietly apply the wrong figure to it.
• Filing Status: Determines your phaseout threshold. Married Filing Jointly gets double the single threshold ($400,000 vs. $200,000).
• Modified AGI (MAGI): Your Adjusted Gross Income with certain items added back. For most W-2 earners, AGI and MAGI are identical.
• Qualifying Children: Kids under 17 who meet all requirements. A child turning 17 this year doesn't qualify for CTC (use Other Dependents instead).
• Other Dependents: Anyone you claim as a dependent who doesn't qualify for CTC—17-year-olds, college students you support, elderly parents living with you.
• Tax Liability (optional): Your federal income tax before credits. Entering this shows how much credit is refundable vs. just offsetting what you owe.

Common Reasons You Won't Qualify

• Child turned 17 this year: The CTC requires the child to be under 17 on December 31. If your kid's 17th birthday is December 31, they don't qualify for CTC—but they do qualify for the $500 Other Dependent Credit.
• ITIN instead of SSN: The child must have a valid Social Security Number issued before your filing deadline. An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) disqualifies the child from CTC entirely.
• Child lived with you less than half the year: Custody agreements matter. If your child lived with the other parent for more than 6 months, they claim the credit (unless Form 8332 releases it to you).
• Income too high: At $240,000 MAGI (single) or $440,000 (married joint), a family with one child loses the entire credit. Each $1,000 over the threshold costs you $50 in credit.
• No earned income for refundable portion: If your income is entirely from investments, Social Security, or pensions, you get zero refundable ACTC. You need wages or self-employment income above $2,500.
• Filing Married Filing Separately: You still get the credit, but your phaseout starts at $200,000 (same as single), not $400,000. This can hurt high-income couples.

How This Estimator Works

We calculate your credit in four steps: (1) multiply qualifying children by $2,200 and other dependents by $500 for the base credit, (2) apply the phaseout reduction of $50 per $1,000 over your filing status threshold, (3) split the result into non-refundable (limited to your tax liability) and refundable (15% of earned income over $2,500, capped at $1,700 per child), and (4) sum both portions for your total benefit.

What we include: standard CTC and ODC rules, income phaseouts for all filing statuses, the ACTC refundable calculation, and thresholds for tax years 2025 and 2026. Figures come from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and section 24 of the Code, loaded from one dataset that both this page and the calculator read, so the numbers you see here are the numbers it computes.

What we don't include: State-level child credits, interaction with other federal credits (EITC, Child and Dependent Care), or special situations like foster children placed mid-year. This is an estimate—your actual credit depends on your complete tax return.