Child Tax Credit 2026 and 2027: Amount per Child, Refundable Portion and Income Limits

The child tax credit (CTC) cuts your federal income tax for each child under 17, and part of it can come back as a refund even if you owe no tax. For the return most people file in early 2027 (tax year 2026), the credit is worth up to $2,200 per qualifying child, and up to $1,700 of that per child is refundable. For tax year 2027 (returns filed in 2028), the IRS has set the credit at $2,300 per child, with up to $1,800 refundable. Below are the amounts by year, the income limits, who qualifies and an estimator.

Child Tax Credit Amounts at a Glance

The per-child amounts rise with inflation: the law set the credit at $2,200 and raises it for tax years after 2025, rounded down to a multiple of $100. The refundable cap is indexed the same way. The $200,000 and $400,000 thresholds, the $2,500 earned income floor and the $500 credit for other dependents are fixed dollar amounts in the statute as we read it, and they are not on its inflation list.

Child Tax Credit Estimator

Pick the tax year and filing status, enter your children and income, and (if you know it) your federal income tax before credits. If you leave tax at $0, the estimator counts only the refundable part. The result is an estimate; Schedule 8812 on your return controls.

Who Qualifies

The child must be under 17 at the end of the tax year. The IRS lists these other tests for a qualifying child (this is its list for tax year 2025; it has not posted a tax year 2026 version yet):

• Relationship: your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, or a descendant of one of them (for example, a grandchild, niece or nephew).
• Support: the child did not provide more than half of their own support for the year.
• Residency: the child lived with you for more than half the year.
• Dependent: you claim the child as a dependent on your return.
• Joint return: the child does not file a joint return for the year (except to claim a refund of withheld or estimated tax).
• Citizenship: the child is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or U.S. resident alien.

A 17- or 18-year-old dependent does not count for the child tax credit, but may count for the $500 credit for other dependents.

Social Security Number Rules

The credit has Social Security number (SSN) rules for both the child and the parents:

• Each qualifying child needs an SSN that is valid for employment in the United States and issued before the due date of the return (including extensions).
• You need such an SSN too. On a joint return, only one spouse needs a valid SSN; the other needs either an SSN or an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN).
• A child without a valid SSN cannot be claimed for the child tax credit or its refundable part. If the child has another taxpayer identification number, you may be able to claim the $500 credit for other dependents for that child instead.

The Refundable Part (Additional Child Tax Credit)

The credit first reduces the income tax you owe. If the credit is bigger than your tax, some or all of the rest can be paid to you as the additional child tax credit (ACTC). The refundable part is the smallest of:

• the part of the credit you could not use against your tax;
• $1,700 per qualifying child for tax year 2026 (filed in 2027), or $1,800 per child for tax year 2027 (filed in 2028);
• 15% of your earned income above $2,500.

You need at least $2,500 of earned income to get any refundable part. Families with three or more qualifying children may be able to use an alternative formula based on the Social Security taxes they paid; Schedule 8812 walks through it. Our estimator does not include that formula.

Income Limits and Phase-Out

You get the full credit if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is $400,000 or less on a joint return, or $200,000 or less for every other filing status. Above that, the credit drops by $50 for each $1,000, or part of $1,000, of MAGI over the threshold. So $1 over the threshold already costs $50.

For most people MAGI is the same as AGI. It adds back income you excluded because you lived abroad or in a U.S. territory (sections 911, 931 and 933 of the tax code).

The law sets these thresholds as fixed dollar amounts; they are not in its inflation adjustment list, and the 2026 and 2027 revenue procedures list no change to them.

Credit for Other Dependents

The credit for other dependents (ODC) is up to $500 for each dependent who does not qualify for the child tax credit. Examples are a dependent child who is 17 or older at year end, and a qualifying child who has no valid SSN but has another taxpayer identification number. It is not refundable: it can lower your tax to $0 but cannot be paid out. It phases out with the child tax credit, over the same $200,000 and $400,000 thresholds. The $500 is not indexed for inflation in the statute.

How to Claim It

List your children and other dependents on Form 1040 and attach a completed Schedule 8812, Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents. Before you file, check the IRS child tax credit page and the Schedule 8812 instructions for the tax year you are filing, since the IRS updates forms for each year.

If your income is modest you may be able to file for free: see IRS Free File. Also check whether you can claim the earned income tax credit.

When the Refund Arrives

If you claim the additional child tax credit (or the earned income tax credit), the IRS cannot issue your refund before mid-February. The hold applies to the whole refund, not only the credit. Our IRS refund schedule explains this hold and the typical refund wait by filing method. To estimate your whole refund, use the tax refund calculator, and compare it with the average tax refund.

Worked Examples

These are hypothetical examples of our arithmetic, not IRS examples. Your Schedule 8812 sets your actual credit.

One child, low income, tax year 2026 (filed in 2027). A single parent with one qualifying child earns $12,500 and owes no income tax. The refundable part is 15% x ($12,500 - $2,500) = $1,500. That is under the $1,700 per-child cap, so the parent gets $1,500 as a refund.

Married couple at $230,000, tax year 2026. A couple filing jointly with MAGI of $230,000 is under the $400,000 threshold, so the credit is not reduced: $2,200 for each qualifying child, used first against their income tax.

Single parent at $250,000, one child, tax year 2026. MAGI is $50,000 over the $200,000 threshold. That is 50 steps of $1,000, so the reduction works out to 50 x $50 = $2,500. It is more than the $2,200 credit, so the credit is gone.

Where one child's credit runs out. For tax year 2026, one child's $2,200 credit is down to $50 at MAGI of $243,000 ($443,000 on a joint return) and reaches $0 at any income above that. For tax year 2027, with $2,300 per child, the $50 point is $245,000 ($445,000 joint).

Trump Accounts

The 2025 Schedule 8812 instructions also mention Trump accounts, a new type of account for children; see our Trump accounts guide for how they work. Related reading for parents: average childcare cost and 529 plans explained.

More tax figures: 2026 tax brackets, 2027 tax brackets and the 2026 standard deduction.

Sources & Methodology

• IRS Rev. Proc. 2026-35, section 3.05: tax year 2027 credit ($2,300) and refundable amount ($1,800).
• IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.05: tax year 2026 credit ($2,200) and refundable amount ($1,700).
• 26 U.S.C. 24: phase-out thresholds and rate, MAGI, the $2,500 earned income floor and 15% rate, the $500 credit for other dependents, Social Security number rules and inflation indexing.
• IRS child tax credit page (last updated October 29, 2026; describes tax year 2025): qualifying child tests, amounts for tax year 2025, how to claim and the mid-February refund hold.
• Instructions for Schedule 8812 (2025): joint-return SSN and ITIN rule, and the credit for other dependents for a child without a valid SSN.

Method notes. The revenue procedures, the IRS page, the 2025 Schedule 8812 instructions and the statute text were re-read on November 11, 2026. The IRS had not yet published a tax year 2026 child tax credit page or tax year 2026 Schedule 8812 instructions. The worked examples, the phase-out table and the estimator are our arithmetic from the published amounts and the statute. The estimator does not test eligibility, other credits that use up your tax first, or the three-or-more-children formula.

This article is educational and is not tax advice. Wealthy Pot is not affiliated with the IRS. Figures were checked against IRS revenue procedures, IRS pages and the U.S. Code on 2026-11-11. Your actual credit is set by your filed return.

FAQ

Is the child tax credit refundable?
Partly. The part you cannot use against your tax can be refunded as the additional child tax credit, up to $1,700 per child for tax year 2026 (filed in 2027) and $1,800 per child for tax year 2027 (filed in 2028), and only up to 15% of your earned income above $2,500.

Can I claim the child tax credit for a 17-year-old?
No. The child must be under 17 at the end of the tax year. A 17-year-old dependent may qualify you for the $500 credit for other dependents, which is not refundable.

My child does not have a Social Security number. Can I still get a credit?
Not the child tax credit. If the child has another taxpayer identification number and meets the dependent rules, you may be able to claim the $500 credit for other dependents.

How much is the child tax credit for 2026?
Up to $2,200 per qualifying child for tax year 2026, on the return you file in 2027, with up to $1,700 per child refundable.

What is the income limit?
The credit starts to shrink above $400,000 of MAGI on a joint return and $200,000 for everyone else, losing $50 for each $1,000 (or part of $1,000) over the line.

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"Child Tax Credit 2026 and 2027: Amount per Child, Refundable Portion and Income Limits." Wealthy Pot, 2026. https://wealthypot.com/child-tax-credit/