2025-2026 Child Tax Credit: Top 7 Requirements
The 2024-2025 Child Tax Credit can reduce your tax bill and may be partially refundable. To qualify, you must meet strict requirements on 1. age, 2. relationship, 3. support, 4. dependent, 5. citizenship, 6. residence, and 7. family income. The credit has increased for 2025 and future years with the One Big Beautiful Bill. Find out if you qualify for the Child Tax Credit and learn how much you can potentially save.
The One Big Beautiful Bill that passed includes permanently extending tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including increasing the cap on the amount of state and local or sales tax and property tax (SALT) that you can deduct, makes cuts to energy credits passed under the Inflation Reduction Act, makes changes to taxes on tips and overtime for certain workers, reforms Medicaid, increases the Debt ceiling, and reforms Pell Grants and student loans. Updates to this article are in process. Check our One Big Beautiful Bill article for more information.
Key Takeaways
- The 2024 Child Tax Credit has 7 qualifying tests to determine eligibility for the Child Tax Credit: age, relationship, support, dependent status, citizenship, length of residency, and family income.
- With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the 2025-2026 Child Tax Credit adds an 8th qualifying test: work-eligible Social Security Numbers for both the child and the person claiming the credit (only one filer is required to have a qualifying Social Security number for a joint tax return).
- If you aren't able to claim the Child Tax Credit for a dependent, they might be eligible for the Credit for Other Dependents.
- The American Rescue Plan Act temporarily directed the IRS to issue advance payments of the 2021 Child Tax Credit during the 2021 year rather than having families wait until they prepare their 2021 taxes in 2022.
- The temporary changes for 2021 increased the eligibility and credit amount for certain families and made it so the entire Child Tax Credit could be received as a refund for 2021, even if they owe no federal income tax
- The standard Child Tax Credit is non-refundable, but the Additional Child Tax Credit is refundable allowing for up to a $1,700 refund even if you don't owe any tax.
- To fight against fraud, the IRS can delay the processing of refunds that include the Child Tax Credit. But this shouldn't discourage you from claiming this valuable tax benefit.
Child Tax Credit Requirements for tax years 2024 and 2025
Before we discuss how to claim the Child Tax Credit, it is helpful to understand what is meant when we talk about a "tax year." The "2025 tax year" refers to the income you earn and the taxes you'll file for the calendar year 2025, which are typically filed by April 2026.
In July of 2025, Congress passed, and President Trump signed into law, the One Big Beautiful Bill. This made changes to many tax provisions including the Child Tax Credit. The changes affect the 2025-2026 Child Tax Credit (as well as for future years), but no changes were made that impact the 2024 Child Tax Credit.
Beginning back in 2018, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act originally increased the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $2,000. But this was set to expire at the end of 2025. The One Big Beautiful Bill makes the increased amount permanent as well as the higher income thresholds of $200,000 single and $400,000 married filing jointly to qualify for the credit. It also indexes the credit amount for inflation beginning in 2026.
2024 Child Tax Credit Requirements
To claim the Child Tax Credit for the 2024 tax year, you are required to determine if your child is eligible. All of these seven qualifying tests have to be met:
1) Age test - For these tax years, a child must have been 16 years old or younger at the end of the tax year for which you claim the credit.
2) Relationship test - The child must be your own child, a stepchild, or a foster child placed with you by a court or authorized agency. An adopted child is treated as your own child. An adopted child includes a child lawfully placed with you for legal adoption, even if that adoption is not final by the end of the tax year.
You can also claim your brother or sister, stepbrother or stepsister. And you can claim descendants of any of these qualifying people—such as your nieces, nephews and grandchildren—if they meet all the other tests.
3) Support test - To qualify, the child cannot have provided more than half of his or her own financial support during the tax year.
4) Dependent test - You must claim the child as a dependent on your tax return. Bear in mind that in order for you to claim a child as a dependent, your child has to:
- be your child (or adoptive or foster child), sibling, niece, nephew or grandchild
- be under age 19, or under age 24 and a full-time student for at least five months of the year; or be permanently disabled, regardless of age
- have lived with you for more than half the year
- have provided no more than half of their own support for the year
5) Citizenship test - The child must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national or a U.S. resident alien. (For tax purposes, the term "U.S. national" refers to individuals who were born in American Samoa or in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.)
6) Residence test - The child must have lived with you for more than half of the tax year for which you claim the credit. There are important exceptions, however:
- A child who was born (or died) during the tax year is considered to have lived with you for the entire year.
- Temporary absences by you or the child for special circumstances, such as school, vacation, business, medical care, military services or detention in a juvenile facility, are counted as time the child lived with you.
- There are also some exceptions to the residency test for children of divorced or separated parents. For details, see the instructions for Form 1040.
7) Family income test - The Child Tax Credit is reduced if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is above certain amounts, which are determined by your tax-filing status. For the 2024 and 2025 tax years, the phaseout of the credit begins with $200,000 in income ($400,000 for Married Filing Jointly).
2025-2026 Child Tax Credit Requirements
The One Big Beautiful Bill changed some of the requirements and amounts of the Child Tax Credit for 2025 and for future years. The bill adds an eighth requirement to the seven from above:
8) Work-eligible Social Security Number Requirement - The person claiming the credit (at least one person if filing a joint tax return) and the child are required to have Social Security Numbers that make them eligible for work in the United States.
In addition to adding the eighth requirement, the One Big Beautiful Bill increased the credit from $2,000 to $2,200 for 2025. The credit is indexed for inflation for years after 2025.
TurboTax Tip:
"You can file Form 8862 with your tax return if the IRS previously reduced or denied your claim for the Child Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit in order to receive the credit." – Rocky Mengle, Attorney
Child Tax Credit for 2023, 2022, 2020, and earlier tax years (see below for 2021)
To claim the Child Tax Credit for 2023, 2022, 2020, and earlier tax years, you need to determine if your child is eligible. All of these seven qualifying tests have to be met:
1) Age test - For these tax years, a child has to be under age 17 (i.e., 16 years old or younger) at the end of the tax year for which you claim the credit.
2) Relationship test - The child has to be your own child, a stepchild, or a foster child placed with you by a court or authorized agency. An adopted child is always treated as your own child. ("An adopted child" includes a child lawfully placed with you for legal adoption, even if that adoption is not final by the end of the tax year.) You can also claim your brother or sister, stepbrother or stepsister. And you can claim descendants of any of these qualifying people—such as your nieces, nephews and grandchildren—if they meet all the other tests.
3) Support test - To qualify, the child cannot have provided more than half of his or her own financial support during the tax year.
4) Dependent test - You have to claim the child as a dependent on your tax return. Bear in mind that in order for you to claim a child as a dependent, your child has to:
- be your child (or adoptive or foster child), sibling, niece, nephew or grandchild
- be under age 19, or under age 24 and a full-time student for at least five months of the year; or be permanently disabled, regardless of age
- have lived with you for more than half the year
- have provided no more than half of their own support for the year
5) Citizenship test - The child is required to be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national or a U.S. resident alien. (For tax purposes, the term "U.S. national" refers to individuals who were born in American Samoa or in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.)
6) Residence test - The child has to have lived with you for more than half of the tax year for which you claim the credit. There are important exceptions, however:
- A child who was born (or died) during the tax year is considered to have lived with you for the entire year.
- Temporary absences by you or the child for special circumstances, such as school, vacation, business, medical care, military services or detention in a juvenile facility, are counted as time the child lived with you.
- There are also some exceptions to the residency test for children of divorced or separated parents. For details, see the instructions for Form 1040.
7) Family income test - The Child Tax Credit is reduced if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is above certain amounts, which are determined by your tax-filing status:
- For tax years 2023, 2022 and 2018 through 2020, the phaseout of the credit begins with $200,000 in income ($400,000 for married filing jointly).
- In 2017, the phase out threshold is $55,000 for Married Filing Separately couples; $75,000 for Single, Head of Household, and Qualifying Surviving Spouse filers; and $110,000 for Married Filing Jointly couples. For each $1,000 of income above the threshold, the available Child Tax Credit was reduced by $50.
What if the credit exceeds my tax liability?
For the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, and earlier tax years, the standard Child Tax Credit is nonrefundable; if your credit exceeds your tax liability, your tax bill is reduced to zero, and any remaining unused credit is lost. However, you may be able to claim a refundable Additional Child Tax Credit for the unused balance:
- Up to $1,700 per qualifying child in 2024 and 2025 is refundable with the Additional Child Tax Credit.
- You can find out if you're eligible for this refundable credit by completing the worksheet in IRS Form 8812.
The One Big Beautiful Bill also makes the Tax Cut and Jobs Act's increase to the Additional Child Tax Credit permanent and indexes it each year for inflation beginning in 2026.
2021 Child Tax Credit
The American Rescue Plan Act of March 2021 was designed to assist in the United States’ recovery from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant part of the plan included the broadening of the Child Tax Credit to include more families, increase the financial benefits the credit provided, and to get these benefits into the hands of the eligible taxpayers quickly through the use of Advanced Monthly Payments in 2021.
Advance Child Tax Credit Payments
The expanded and newly-advanceable Child Tax Credit for 2021 was authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act, enacted in March of 2021. Part of this expansion is to advance a portion of the 2021 tax credit to families by sending them direct payments during 2021 rather than having them wait until they prepare their 2021 taxes in 2022.
Most families did not need to do anything to get their advance payment. The IRS calculated the payment amount based on your 2020 tax return. Eligible families received advance payments, either by direct deposit or check.
These payments were an advance of your 2021 Child Tax Credit. The amount received was reconciled to the amount that you are eligible for when you prepared your 2021 tax return in 2022. Most families received about one-half of their tax credit through the advance payments. If you received too little, you were due an additional amount on your tax return. In the unlikely event that you received too much, you might have had to pay the excess back, depending on your income level.
The Child Tax Credit changes for 2021 had lower income limits than the original Child Tax Credit. Families that did not qualify for the credit using these lower income limits were still eligible for the $2,000 per child credit using the original Child Tax Credit income and phase out amounts.
In addition, the entire credit was fully refundable for 2021. This means that eligible families could get it as a refund if they didn't owe any federal income tax.
Before 2021, the refundable portion was limited to $1,400 per child and there were other requirements regarding earned income to obtain the refundable portion. There was not an earned income requirement for 2021.
As in other years, to claim the Child Tax Credit for 2021, you needed to determine if your child was eligible. The same seven qualifying tests listed above for other years - age, relationship, support, dependent status, citizenship, length of residency and family income - were also required for 2021. However, the age and family income tests were changed to make more families eligible for more of the credit than in other years.
Age test changes for 2021 included that a child needed to have been under age 18 at the end of the year. Increased credit amounts were available for children under age 6 if certain family income tests are met.
Income limitation changes for the 2021 Child Tax Credit included a credit reduction if your 2021 modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) was above certain amounts, which were determined by your tax-filing status.
- Qualifying families with incomes less than $75,000 for Single, $112,500 for Head of Household, or $150,000 for Married Filing Jointly returns were eligible for the temporarily increased credit of $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for children under 18. Above these income amounts, the credit was reduced by $50 for each $1,000 over these limits.
- For families with MAGI greater than the amounts eligible for the increased credit, the phaseout of the credit began with $200,000 in income ($400,000 for married filing jointly) and the credit amount was $2,000 for all children under 18 at the end of the tax year.
- Your greatest available credit was based on the above method that provides you with the largest benefit.
Additionally, for 2021, the Child Tax Credit was fully refundable; if your credit exceeded your tax liability, your tax bill is reduced to zero and any remaining unused credit could be provided to you as a refund.
For updates and more information, please visit our 2021 Child Tax Credit blog post.
How has the Child Tax Credit changed over the years?
The Child Tax Credit has seen many forms from its introduction with the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA). The original version of the CTC provided for a nonrefundable $500 for households with up to $110,000 in income. An alternative formula was provided for families with three or more qualifying children that made a portion of the CTC refundable.
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) brought about some substantial changes to the CTC including doubling the size of the maximum amount of the credit to $1,000. This change also included an expansion of the refundability of the credit. This meant that families with more than $10,000 in earned income could claim up to 15% of their earnings greater than this amount as a refund, up to the maximum credit amount.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) brought about the next significant change to the CTC. The Act was a stimulus response to the Great Recession. With the ARRA, the earnings threshold for the refundable CTC was reduced from earnings of $10,000 to $3,000.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) increased the credit to $2,000 per child and increased the income limits for receiving the credit. The sections above provide the details of this recent history since 2018 with the temporary changes during the pandemic through the most recent changes brought about with the One Big Beautiful Bill that was signed into law in July of 2025.
What is the Other Dependent Tax Credit?
If you have a dependent who doesn't meet the requirements of the Child Tax Credit, you might be able to claim them as a dependent and qualify for the Other Dependent Tax Credit. This credit was created by the Tax Cut and Jobs Act and was set to expire at the end of 2025. However, the One Big Beautiful Bill made it permanent, so it is available in 2024, 2025, and in future years.
The Other Dependent Tax Credit is an alternative credit that can be claimed for dependents. Some of the requirements include that the dependent:
- is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien
- can’t be claimed on the Child Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit
- will be claimed on your tax return
- has a Social Security number or Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN)
One thing to note for this credit is that dependents can be any age. The maximum for this credit is $500 per dependent.
When will I get my tax refund with the credit?
Typically, it takes 21 days or less for the IRS to issue a refund for taxpayers who filed electronically and chose to receive their refund via direct deposit.
However, the IRS can take a little longer to issue refunds that have certain credits such as the Child Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit in an effort to reduce tax return fraud.
To check the status of your refund, you can use our tool to track your refund.
How can you double-check that you qualify for the Child Tax Credit?
If anything about the above is unclear, or you still have some questions, getting assistance from a tax expert can help you determine whether you qualify.
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