Child Tax Credit Calculator

The Child Tax Credit is a federal tax credit of up to $2,200 for each qualifying child under age 17 who has a Social Security number. Up to $1,700 per child is refundable as the Additional Child Tax Credit, meaning you can receive it even if you owe no income tax. The credit shrinks at higher incomes through a phase-out. You claim it on IRS Schedule 8812 with your Form 1040.

Your credit is reduced once your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) passes the threshold for your filing status, which is $400,000 for married filing jointly and $200,000 for everyone else. For each $1,000 (or part of $1,000) above the threshold, the credit drops by $50. The IRS rounds the amount over the threshold up to the next $1,000 first, so even being $1 over triggers a full $50 cut. A one-child credit reaches $0 about $40,000 above the threshold.

The Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) is the part of the credit you can receive as a refund even with no tax due. It is capped at $1,700 per child and is limited to 15% of your earned income above $2,500. The calculator takes the smallest of your total credit, the $1,700 per child cap, and that earned-income amount. If your earned income is low, the earned-income limit can hold the refundable part below the cap.

A qualifying child must be under age 17 at the end of the tax year, be your child, stepchild, foster child, sibling, or a descendant of one of them, and have lived with you for more than half the year. The child cannot have provided more than half of their own support and must have a valid Social Security number. Dependents who fail these tests may instead qualify for the separate $500 Credit for Other Dependents, which this calculator does not include.

Yes. The nonrefundable part of the credit can only offset income tax you owe, so a low tax bill can leave some of it unused. The refundable Additional Child Tax Credit then returns up to $1,700 per child based on your earned income. Because this tool does not ask for your total tax, it shows the maximum refundable amount your earned income allows, so your filed return may split the credit differently.

No. This is an estimate for planning, not tax or financial advice. It uses the $2,200 per child credit, the $1,700 refundable cap, and the $200,000 and $400,000 phase-out thresholds from IRS Schedule 8812 (IRC Section 24). Your actual credit can depend on residency, dependent tests, and other items not modeled here, so confirm your figure with the Schedule 8812 instructions or a tax professional before filing.