Child Tax Credit

The Child Tax Credit may be worth as much as $1,000 per qualifying child depending upon your income.

A qualified child must be under age 17.

To claim a child for purposes of the Child Tax Credit, they must either 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.

In order to claim a child for this credit, the child must not have provided more than half of their own support.

You must claim the child as a dependent on your federal tax return.

The child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien.

The child must have lived with you for more than half of 2013.

The credit is limited if your modified adjusted gross income must be above a certain amount. The amount at which this phase-out begins varies depending on your 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 you owe as well as any alternative minimum tax you owe.