| The Child Tax Credit is available to eligible taxpayers with qualifying children under age 17. Here are eleven facts you should know about the child tax credit.
- Amount: With the Child Tax Credit, you may be able to reduce your federal income tax by up to $1,000 for each qualifying child under age 17.
- Qualification: A qualifying child for this credit is someone who meets the qualifying criteria of seven tests: age, relationship, support, dependent, joint return, citizenship and residence.
- Age test: To qualify, a child must have been under age 17 – age 16 or younger – at the end of 2011.
- Relationship test: To claim a child for purposes of the Child Tax Credit, the child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister or a descendant of any of these individuals, which includes your grandchild, niece or nephew. An adopted child is always treated as your own child. An adopted child includes a child lawfully placed with you for legal adoption.
- Support test: In order to claim a child for this credit, the child must not have provided more than half of his/her own support.
- Dependent test: You must claim the child as a dependent on your federal tax return.
- Joint return: test The qualifying child can not file a joint return for the year (or files it only as a claim for refund).
- Citizenship test: To meet the citizenship test, the child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or U.S. resident alien.
- Residence test: The child must have lived with you for more than half of 2011. There are some exceptions to the residence test, found in IRS Publication 972, Child Tax Credit.
- Limitations: The credit is limited if your modified adjusted gross income is above a certain amount. The amount at which this phase-out begins varies by filing status. For married taxpayers filing a joint return, the phase-out begins at $110,000. For married taxpayers filing a separate return, it begins at $55,000. For all other taxpayers, the phase-out begins at $75,000. In addition, the Child Tax Credit is generally limited by the amount of the income tax and any alternative minimum tax you owe.
- Additional Child Tax Credit: If the amount of your Child Tax Credit is greater than the amount of income tax you owe, you may be able to claim the Additional Child Tax Credit.
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