How to Claim a Child Tax Credit
- 1). In order to get the child tax credit, the child in question must:
-- be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them (niece, grandchild, great nephew)
-- be under 17 at the end of tax year
-- be dependent on you for over half of their support
-- lived with you over half of the year
-- be a US citizen, a US national, or a US resident alien. - 2). In order to get the full child tax credit, your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) must be not exceed the following limits:
Married filing jointly -- $110,000.
Single, head of household, or qualifying widow(er) -- $75,000.
Married filing separately -- $55,000
Roughly speaking, your AGI is your gross income less pretax deductions for such things as retirement plan contributions and Social Security taxes. More precisely, it is the income figure at the bottom of the first page of your tax return. - 3). To claim the tax credit, you must provide the child's Social Security number. You must file Form 1040, Form 1040A, or Form 1040NR
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