how to claim the child tax credit
some people with low income don t bother filing taxes because they know they don t owe any money that can be a mistake for several reasons all but the lowest income earners are required to file a tax return even more importantly however you may be missing out on some valuable benefits that you are eligible to receive one of these if you have a family is the child tax credit which is partially refundable when combined with the additional child tax credit this means you can receive part of it back even if you don t owe any taxes 5to claim the child tax credit a taxpayer must file form 1040 u s individual income tax return in addition a taxpayer must attach schedule 8812 credits for qualifying children and other dependents schedule 8812 is used to figure out the amount of child tax credit a taxpayer is eligible to receive 4child tax credit impact on policy and povertysince its enactment in 1997 the child tax credit has benefited most working families 7 over the years it has been criticized regularly for providing little or no benefit to the poorest families many of whom are not taxpayers and do not file tax returns the expansion of the child tax credit during the pandemic had important implications for the economy at large as well as for low and moderate income families the emergency measures include prepayment of the benefits to eligible taxpayers some efforts also were made to reach out to very low income families who didn t normally file tax returns and therefore weren t easily identifiable by the irs when it came time to mail out the checks 8well before the pandemic frequent amendments increased the child tax credit amount and widened its eligibility requirements at one time refunds were restricted to taxpayers with three or more children 9 but for years the child tax credit did not reach the poorest families in 2021 for the first time the significant increase in the credit amount and the provision of total refundability extended benefits to the neediest families according to the center on poverty social policy at columbia university the sixth child tax credit payment kept 3 7 million children from poverty in december 2021 as a result monthly child poverty was reduced by nearly 30 10the child tax credit is not considered earned income therefore it does not affect other government benefits such as unemployment insurance medicaid snap ssi or public housing 11the expanded and fully refundable child tax credit was enacted as part of the american rescue plan act a law formally targeted at relieving the economic problems created by the covid 19 pandemic it also addressed many limitations considered problematic in the earlier versions of the child tax credit 8the enlarged credit constituted an enormous financial commitment congressional democrats strongly supported the increased child tax credit republicans generally favored some expanded benefits for children but criticized the version of the child tax credit that was enacted for its cost and for the lack of any work requirement the biden administration undertook an extensive public educational and promotional program to maximize the credit s use and benefits who is eligible for the child tax credit to claim the child tax credit both the taxpayer and the child must have social security numbers and only one taxpayer may claim the child tax credit for any single dependent the child must be under the age of 17 at the end of the year provide no more than half of their own financial support and have lived with the taxpayer for at least half of the year the qualifying child must be the taxpayer s son daughter stepchild brother sister stepsibling half sibling or a descendant of any of these 1