To get the full Child Tax Credit of $2,200 per qualifying child in 2025, your Modified Adjusted Gross Income has to be at or below $200,000 if you’re single or head of household, or $400,000 if you’re married filing jointly.1Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit On the other end, there’s a minimum: to get any money back as a refund when the credit is larger than your tax bill, you need at least $2,500 in earned income during the year. Below that floor, the credit can still erase tax you owe, but it won’t generate a refund check.
The Income Ceiling: When the Credit Starts Shrinking
The credit stays at its full $2,200 per child as long as your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) doesn’t exceed the threshold for your filing status. For most filers, MAGI is simply the Adjusted Gross Income shown on your Form 1040.1Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
- Married filing jointly: $400,000
- Single, head of household, or married filing separately: $200,000
These thresholds don’t adjust for inflation. They stay put until Congress changes them.
Cross the line, and the credit shrinks by $50 for every $1,000 (or fraction of $1,000) of income above the threshold. That’s a 5% reduction rate. A married couple with a MAGI of $410,000 sits $10,000 over the $400,000 line, so they lose $500 off their total credit. With two qualifying children, their maximum drops from $4,400 to $3,900.
At high enough incomes, the credit disappears entirely. A married couple with one child loses the whole $2,200 by the time MAGI reaches $444,000, since 44 increments of $1,000 above $400,000 at $50 each equals $2,200. The more children you claim, the higher your income can climb before the credit is fully erased, because there’s more credit to phase out.
The Income Floor: What You Need to Get a Refund
The Child Tax Credit has two pieces. The main credit is non-refundable up to $2,200 per child, which means it can cancel out federal income tax you owe but can’t push your bill below zero on its own. If your tax liability is small or nothing, that main credit isn’t worth its full face value to you.
That’s where the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) comes in. The ACTC is the refundable portion: it can send you a check even when you owe no tax. To qualify for it, you need at least $2,500 in earned income.1Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
Earned income means wages, salary, tips, and net self-employment earnings. It does not include investment income, Social Security benefits, unemployment compensation, or other passive sources. If your only income comes from those, you won’t hit the $2,500 floor no matter how much you receive.
Once your earned income clears $2,500, the refundable credit equals 15% of every dollar above that mark. Earn $15,000, and the formula gives you ($15,000 − $2,500) × 15% = $1,875. But the ACTC caps at $1,700 per qualifying child for 2025, so a one-child family in that scenario would get $1,700 rather than $1,875.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) (2025)
To reach the full $1,700 for one child through the 15% formula alone, you need roughly $13,834 in earned income. Families with more children can claim up to $1,700 per child in refundable credit, but the 15% formula means you need proportionally more earned income to max out each child’s share.
You claim the ACTC by filing Schedule 8812 with your Form 1040.1Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit Tax software handles the calculation automatically; the Schedule 8812 worksheets walk through it if you’re filing on paper.
Putting It Together: A Worked Example
Say a single parent with two qualifying children earns $28,000 and owes $800 in federal income tax before credits.
- Maximum credit: $2,200 × 2 = $4,400
- Phase-out reduction: $0, because MAGI is far below $200,000
- Non-refundable portion applied: $800, wiping out the tax bill
- Credit remaining after that: $4,400 − $800 = $3,600
- 15% formula on earned income: ($28,000 − $2,500) × 15% = $3,825
- Per-child cap: $1,700 × 2 = $3,400
- Refundable ACTC: $3,400, the lowest of the three figures
- Total benefit: $800 of tax canceled plus a $3,400 refund = $4,200
The same family with no earned income (say, income entirely from unemployment or investments) would get nothing refundable, and the $800 non-refundable portion would still cancel the tax bill, but the remaining $3,600 would be lost.
What “Full Credit” Depends On Beyond Income
Income alone doesn’t settle eligibility. Even families squarely inside the income range have to meet the qualifying child rules for every child they claim: the child must be under 17 at the end of the year, must have lived with you more than half the year, must be a U.S. citizen, national, or resident alien, and must not have provided more than half of their own support.4Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
The Social Security number requirement is the one that catches people off guard. Both you and each qualifying child need a Social Security number valid for employment, and the child’s SSN has to be issued before your return’s due date, including extensions.3Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit An ITIN doesn’t work for the Child Tax Credit. A child with only an ITIN is not eligible, no matter what your income is.5Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit 4
A child who turns 17 during the tax year doesn’t qualify for the Child Tax Credit at all, regardless of your income. Older dependents in your household may qualify for the Credit for Other Dependents, a separate $500 non-refundable credit per dependent that uses the same $200,000 and $400,000 income thresholds.1Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
Why the Numbers Changed for 2025
The $2,200 per-child maximum is new for 2025. For several years before, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the credit was capped at $2,000. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, bumped the maximum to $2,200, made the expanded credit permanent, and set annual inflation adjustments starting in 2026.6Internal Revenue Service. One, Big, Beautiful Bill Provisions The refundable ACTC cap of $1,700 per child and the $2,500 earned income floor carry into the 2025 rules. The income phase-out thresholds of $200,000 and $400,000 stayed the same, and because they aren’t indexed, they’ll stay the same next year too unless Congress acts.