Your Child Tax Credit — per-child amounts, phaseouts and the refundable portion
| Component | Amount |
|---|
The Child Tax Credit is the largest family tax benefit in the code — $2,200 per child under 17 (2025, now inflation-indexed), cutting your tax bill dollar-for-dollar, with up to $1,700 per child refundable even if you owe nothing. This estimator computes your exact credit through the two mechanisms that complicate it: the high-income phaseout and the earned-income refundability formula, plus the often-missed $500 credit for other dependents.
| Component | Amount | Key condition |
|---|---|---|
| Child Tax Credit | $2,200/child | Under 17 at year-end, valid SSN, your dependent, lived with you 6+ months |
| Refundable portion (ACTC) | up to $1,700/child | Phases in at 15% of earned income above $2,500 |
| Credit for Other Dependents | $500 each | 17+ kids, college students, supported parents — no SSN requirement (ITIN ok) |
| Phaseout | −$50 per $1,000 of AGI | Above $200,000 single / $400,000 married |
The CTC coexists with the EITC (lower incomes), the child-care credit/FSA (working parents' daycare), and education credits (college years — where the child has usually aged into the $500 ODC but unlocks up to $2,500 of AOTC instead). A family's total federal support often exceeds $8,000/yr when all four are claimed correctly — and each has its own tool here.
No — the test is age at year-end, so a child who is 17 on December 31 gets the $500 other-dependent credit instead. The year they turn 16 is your last full-credit year; plan the $1,700 step-down.
The refundable portion requires earned income above $2,500 to begin phasing in — with zero earnings, the CTC pays nothing (unlike 2021's temporary rules). Even modest part-year work unlocks meaningful refundable credit.
The custodial parent (more overnight stays) by default; Form 8332 can release the claim to the other parent by agreement. Claiming the same child twice triggers automatic IRS matching — the second return gets rejected or audited.
For the $2,200 CTC, children need valid SSNs. Dependents with ITINs (including ITIN children) qualify for the $500 other-dependent credit instead.
Only if you tell it to: entering $2,200/child on W-4 Step 3 spreads the credit through your paychecks. Left blank, it arrives as a bigger refund — your interest-free loan to the IRS.
The 2025 law set $2,200 with inflation indexing going forward — the scheduled 2026 drop to $1,000 was cancelled. Expansion proposals recur; this tool tracks enacted law.
Yes — family and income details never leave your browser.
Count the kids, mind the age-17 cliff, and put the credit in your W-4 so it shows up in the paychecks that pay for those kids. Family tax benefits reward nothing so much as simply claiming them correctly.