Why am I not getting the full Child Tax Credit?

You might not get the Child Tax Credit or less of the credit than you expected due to one or more of the following reasons:

• Your child's information might be entered incorrectly. Double check that your child's information is entered correctly on the Your Dependents and Qualifying Children screen. Make sure your child's birth date, Social Security number, and relationship to taxpayer are correct.
• Your child needs to be younger than 17 to qualify.
• The credit will start to phase out if your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is more than $200,000 (400,000 for joint filers)
• The Child Tax Credit is nonrefundable. That means if your income is low enough that your tax is already zero, then the credit will also be zero. However, you may still qualify for the Additional Child Tax Credit, which is refundable.
• If you have an agreement with the dependent's other parent saying who can claim the child, and the other parent is claiming that dependent this year, you won't qualify for the Child Tax Credit for that dependent.
• If you (and your spouse if Married Filing Jointly) don't have a Social Security Number you can't take the Child Tax Credit.

You can take the Credit for Other Dependents if you have an ITIN. If you're applying for an ITIN with your return, the software will calculate the Credit for Other Dependents, and assume your ITIN application will be approved.