Video: The Child Tax Credit Explained
There’s a lot of buzz about possible changes coming to the Child Tax Credit. CPA and TurboTax expert Lisa Greene-Lewis helps clear up the confusion.
The One Big Beautiful Bill that passed includes permanently extending tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including increasing the cap on the amount of state and local or sales tax and property tax (SALT) that you can deduct, makes cuts to energy credits passed under the Inflation Reduction Act, makes changes to taxes on tips and overtime for certain workers, reforms Medicaid, increases the Debt ceiling, and reforms Pell Grants and student loans. Updates to this article are in process. Check our One Big Beautiful Bill article for more information.
Video transcript:
Tracy Byrnes: Well, there's been a lot of buzz around the Child Tax Credit lately so let's try to clear the air. Lisa Greene-Lewis, CPA, TurboTax expert is here with us right now. Lisa, first of all, can you explain to us who, in theory, is a child in the eyes of the IRS? And what is this tax credit?
Lisa Greene-Lewis: Yes. So it has to be your dependent child. And they have to be under 17. So to qualify as a dependent, you have to provide over half of their support. There's also some income requirements in order to get it. So if you're single, you can't make more than $200,000, (married, filing jointly, $400,000) to get the full credit. Your child also has to be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. national.
Tracy Byrnes: OK, so once you figure out whether you're eligible or not, then what exactly is the credit? What do you get back?
Lisa Greene-Lewis: Yeah, so the credit is up to $2,000 per dependent child under 17.