For the 2026 tax year, the child tax credit is worth up to $2,200 for each qualifying child under age 17.1Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32 Up to $1,700 of that amount is refundable, meaning you can receive it as a cash refund even if you owe no federal income tax. You get the full credit if your adjusted gross income is $200,000 or less, or $400,000 or less if you file jointly with a spouse.2Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit Starting in 2026, the maximum credit amount is adjusted for inflation each year, so the figure may rise in later tax years.
If you have seen references to a $3,000 or $3,600 credit, those figures came from a one-year expansion for 2021 only and are not available for 2026.
How Much You Can Claim and How the Phase-Out Works
The $2,200 is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the federal income tax you owe, not a deduction from your income. A $2,200 credit saves you exactly $2,200 in tax.
Once your adjusted gross income crosses the threshold, the credit drops by $50 for every $1,000 you earn above the limit.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 24 – Child Tax Credit A married couple filing jointly with one child and an AGI of $420,000 is $20,000 over the $400,000 limit. That triggers 20 reductions of $50, cutting $1,000 from their credit. They would receive $1,200 instead of $2,200. The same couple at $444,000 or above would lose the credit entirely.
The thresholds work the same way regardless of whether you file as single, head of household, or married filing separately. The only distinction is joint filers at $400,000 versus everyone else at $200,000.
Which Children Qualify
Your child must pass every one of these tests, generally measured as of December 31 of the tax year:
- Age: under 17 at the end of the year. A child who turns 17 at any point during 2026, even on December 31, no longer qualifies for 2026.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 24 – Child Tax Credit
- Relationship: your son, daughter, stepchild, adopted child, eligible foster child, or a descendant of any of them, such as a grandchild. Siblings, stepsiblings, half-siblings, and their descendants also count.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 152 – Dependent Defined
- Residency: the child must live with you in the United States for more than half of the tax year.5Internal Revenue Service. Qualifying Child Rules
- Support: the child cannot have provided more than half of their own financial support during the year.
- Dependency: you must claim the child as a dependent on your return.
- Citizenship: the child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien.
- Social Security number: the child needs a valid SSN issued before the due date of your return, including extensions. An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number does not work for the child tax credit.6Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule 8812 – Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents
You need a Social Security number too. For joint filers, at least one spouse must have one. Foster children qualify only if placed with you by a state or local government agency, an Indian tribal government, a tax-exempt organization licensed by one of those entities, or a court order.5Internal Revenue Service. Qualifying Child Rules Adopted children and children lawfully placed with you for adoption are treated the same as biological children.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 152 – Dependent Defined
The Refundable Portion for Lower Earners
If your credit is larger than the tax you owe, you do not automatically lose the difference. The additional child tax credit (ACTC) turns part of that excess into a cash refund. For 2026, the maximum refundable amount is $1,700 per qualifying child.1Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32
The refundable amount equals 15% of your earned income above $2,500, capped at $1,700 per child.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 24 – Child Tax Credit Say you have two qualifying children and earned $30,000 in wages. Your earned income above $2,500 is $27,500. Multiply by 15% and you get $4,125. The per-child cap limits your ACTC to $3,400 (two children at $1,700). If your total tax liability is zero, you receive that $3,400 as a refund, and the remaining $1,000 of your total $4,400 credit goes unused.
The formula hits hardest at the bottom of the income scale. A single parent earning $10,000 has only $7,500 above the $2,500 floor, producing an ACTC of $1,125 per child. Roughly one in four children under 17 live in families that earn too little to receive the full credit. The $1,700 cap is indexed for inflation and will gradually rise.
What to Do If Your Child Doesn’t Qualify
If you support a dependent who fails the child tax credit rules, you may still be able to claim the Credit for Other Dependents (ODC). Common examples include children age 17 or older, children without a valid SSN, and other qualifying relatives such as an elderly parent you support.2Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
The ODC is worth up to $500 per dependent and uses the same income phase-out thresholds: $200,000, or $400,000 for joint filers.2Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit It is entirely non-refundable, so it can reduce your tax bill to zero but will never generate a cash payment. The dependent needs a valid taxpayer identification number, but unlike the child tax credit, an ITIN or Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number is acceptable in addition to an SSN.
Divorced or Separated Parents
When parents live apart, the IRS treats the child as the qualifying child of whichever parent the child lived with for the longer part of the year. A divorce decree that awards the credit to the noncustodial parent does not, on its own, override federal tax rules.
For the noncustodial parent to claim the credit, the custodial parent must sign IRS Form 8332, releasing their claim to the child.7Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8332 – Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent Without that signed form attached to the noncustodial parent’s return, the IRS will deny the claim regardless of what any court order says. The custodial parent can also use Form 8332 to revoke a previous release.
When both parents try to claim the same child and cannot agree, the IRS applies tie-breaker rules in order. If only one person is the child’s parent, the parent wins. If both are parents, the one the child lived with longer during the year wins. If the child split time equally, the parent with the higher adjusted gross income wins. State family courts can enforce their own custody agreements through contempt proceedings or other remedies, but the IRS looks only at federal tax law when deciding who receives the credit.
How to File and When the Refund Arrives
You claim the child tax credit, the ACTC, and the Credit for Other Dependents on Schedule 8812, attached to your Form 1040.8Internal Revenue Service. Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) – Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents You will need each qualifying child’s Social Security number, entered exactly as it appears on the card. Even a small mismatch between your return and the Social Security Administration’s records can trigger processing delays. You also need your W-2s and any 1099s.
E-filing is the fastest and most reliable route. It catches math errors automatically and puts your return into the IRS queue immediately.9Internal Revenue Service. IRS Opens 2026 Filing Season If you mail a paper return, certified mail confirms delivery.
Starting with the 2026 filing season, the IRS is phasing out paper refund checks for most individual taxpayers. You will need to provide a bank routing and account number for direct deposit.10Internal Revenue Service. IRS to Phase Out Paper Tax Refund Checks Starting With Individual Taxpayers If you do not have a bank account, alternatives such as prepaid debit cards and digital wallets are available.
If you claim the ACTC, federal law prevents the IRS from releasing your refund before mid-February, even if you file in January.11Internal Revenue Service. When to Expect Your Refund if You Claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit The hold applies to your entire refund, not just the ACTC portion. The IRS uses the extra time to match income you reported against W-2s and 1099s from employers and payers. For the 2026 filing season, the IRS expected most ACTC refunds to reach bank accounts or debit cards by March 2, 2026, for taxpayers who filed early, chose direct deposit, and had no issues with their returns.9Internal Revenue Service. IRS Opens 2026 Filing Season Track your refund with the “Where’s My Refund?” tool on irs.gov using your Social Security number, filing status, and the exact refund amount on your return.
Penalties for Incorrect Claims
Getting the credit wrong carries consequences beyond repaying what you should not have received. If the IRS finds you claimed the credit through reckless or intentional disregard of the rules, you face a two-year ban from claiming the child tax credit, the ACTC, and the Credit for Other Dependents, even if you would otherwise be eligible during that period.6Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule 8812 – Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents If the IRS finds your claim was fraudulent, the ban stretches to ten years.12Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP79B Notice After either ban expires, you must file Form 8862 with the first return on which you claim the credit again.
Separate from the ban, the IRS can impose a 20% accuracy-related penalty on any underpayment caused by negligence, or a 75% civil fraud penalty if the underpayment resulted from intentional deception. Criminal prosecution for tax fraud is rare in the ACTC context but remains a possibility in egregious cases involving fabricated dependents or forged documents.