what was publication 972 child tax credit 
publication 972 was a document published by the internal revenue service irs that provided guidance on determining the exact amount of the child tax credit that taxpayers can claim 1it was used for information about the child tax credit from tax years 2020 and earlier for tax years 2021 and later you will no longer use publication 972 to figure your child tax credit and credit for other dependents instead use schedule 8812 in conjunction with form 1040 2the document included an update on any changes in the tax credit for the year a worksheet to help taxpayers calculate their child credits in certain unusual cases as well as instructions for determining the child tax credit to claim understanding publication 972 child tax creditmost parents foster parents and guardians of children under age 17 can use the child tax credit to lower their taxable income for the year this benefit can be claimed using form 1040 or 1040nr 4irs publication 972 was used in tax years 2020 and prior to determine if a child was eligible according to the document a qualifying child or dependent must have been publication 972 also disclosed how much credit a taxpayer can receive in the 2020 tax year the maximum amount that could be requested for a qualifying child was 2 000 1 that limit has been in effect since 2018 when the irs doubled the 1 000 credit available on 2017 tax returns 5irs publication 972 provided a worksheet that can be used to determine the amount of child tax credit that can be claimed publication 972 provided guidance on potentially getting a portion of any unused credit refunded too following changes to the law in 2017 the refundable portion of the child tax credit known as the additional child tax credit actc increased to 1 400 from 1 000 this meant low income taxpayers whose credits exceed their tax liabilities could get refunded up to 1 400 6the irs allows families with an annual income of more than 2 500 to request a refund using the actc 7 to make a claim for a refund filers must complete schedule 8812 8special considerationsthe child tax credit has limits and is not available to taxpayers at certain high income levels 6in 2020 the tax credit was phased out for this with an adjusted gross income agi of 200 000 or 400 000 if married filing jointly 7