Child Tax Credit 2026: Amounts and Income Limit

The Child Tax Credit is one of the largest credits available to working families, and one of the most commonly miscalculated. The headline number and the amount you actually receive are two different things, because most of the credit is nonrefundable and the refundable half is tied to earned income rather than to the number of children you have. Here is how the 2026 credit works, from the maximum amount down to the arithmetic that decides your actual check.

How Much the Credit Is Worth in 2026

Item	2026 amount
Maximum credit per qualifying child	$2,200
Refundable portion per child (Additional CTC)	Up to $1,700
Nonrefundable portion per child	$500
Credit for Other Dependents (per dependent)	$500
Earned income floor for the refundable portion	$2,500
Refundable rate above the floor	15% of earned income
Phase-out begins (single, head of household, married filing separately)	$200,000 modified AGI
Phase-out begins (married filing jointly)	$400,000 modified AGI

Two things are worth noticing. First, the $2,200 amount was made permanent by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and indexed to inflation from 2026 forward, and the indexed figure did not clear the next rounding step, so it stayed at $2,200. Second, only $1,700 of each $2,200 can come back to you as a refund. The other $500 is a discount on tax you owe, and if you owe nothing, that $500 is simply lost.

Who Counts as a Qualifying Child

All of these tests have to be met. Failing any one generally moves the child to the $500 Credit for Other Dependents instead, if they qualify as a dependent at all.

• Age. Under 17 at the end of the year. A child who turns 17 at any point during 2026 does not qualify.
• Relationship. Your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, sibling, half-sibling, step-sibling, or a descendant of any of them, which includes grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
• Residency. Lived with you for more than half of the year, with limited exceptions for temporary absences and certain divorced or separated parent situations.
• Support. Did not provide more than half of their own support.
• Dependent status. Claimed as a dependent on your return.
• Citizenship. A US citizen, US national, or US resident alien.
• Filing status. Did not file a joint return, except solely to claim a refund of withheld or estimated tax.
• Social Security number. A valid SSN issued before the return due date.

The Social Security Number Rule That Trips People Up

A qualifying child has always needed a work-eligible Social Security number. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act added a requirement on the filer side as well: the person claiming the credit, or at least one spouse on a joint return, must also have a valid SSN. A return filed with an ITIN on the filer line no longer qualifies for the Child Tax Credit even when the child has an SSN.

Those households may still be able to claim the $500 Credit for Other Dependents, which does not carry the same SSN restriction. If this applies to you, it is worth reviewing before you file rather than after.

How the Income Phase-Out Works

The credit does not switch off at a threshold. It steps down by $50 for every $1,000, or fraction of $1,000, of modified AGI above the limit. Because the reduction is a flat dollar step rather than a percentage, how far you can go before losing the credit depends on how many dependents you claim.

A worked example

A married couple filing jointly with two qualifying children and $450,000 of modified AGI:

• Base credit: 2 times $2,200 = $4,400
• Excess income over the $400,000 threshold: $50,000
• That is 50 increments of $1,000, and the reduction is 50 times $50 = $2,500
• Credit after phase-out: $4,400 minus $2,500 = $1,900

The reduction also applies to the Credit for Other Dependents and uses the same thresholds.

Where the credit disappears entirely

Fifty dollars of reduction per $1,000 of excess income means you need $20 of extra income to lose $1 of credit. Two children at $4,400 of credit therefore require $88,000 of excess income to erase, which puts the vanishing point at $288,000 for a single filer and $488,000 for a joint filer. Those thresholds are set in the tax code and are not indexed, unlike the brackets and the standard deduction, so they do not move from year to year.

One quirk worth knowing if you are married and considering filing separately: married filing separately gets the same $200,000 threshold as every other non-joint status, not half of the joint figure. That is the opposite of how the Additional Medicare Tax works, which surprises people every year.

The Refundable Portion Is Not What People Think

The $1,700 per child figure is a ceiling, not an amount. The actual Additional Child Tax Credit is the smaller of two numbers:

• 15% of your earned income above $2,500, or
• $1,700 per qualifying child.

A single filer with two qualifying children and $20,000 of earned income gets 15% of $17,500, which is $2,625, not the $3,400 that the per-child ceiling implies. And if your earned income is $2,500 or less, the refundable portion is zero no matter how many children qualify. That single fact does not show up in tables of maximum amounts, and it is the most common source of disappointment at filing time.

Notice also that this is tied to earned income, meaning wages and self-employment income. Investment income, retirement distributions, and unemployment compensation do not count toward the 15% calculation, though Social Security benefits received and reported on a return can be treated as earned income for this specific credit.

Child Tax Credit vs Credit for Other Dependents

	Child Tax Credit	Credit for Other Dependents
Amount per dependent	$2,200	$500
Refundable	Up to $1,700 per child	No, nonrefundable only
Age requirement	Under 17 at year end	No age limit
SSN requirement	Valid SSN required	SSN, ITIN, or other taxpayer ID
Phase-out thresholds	$200,000 / $400,000	$200,000 / $400,000
Typical candidates	Children under 17	Children 17 to 24, qualifying relatives including a parent you support

The Credit for Other Dependents is the reason a family does not lose everything when a child turns 17 or goes to college. It is still worth $500 per dependent, and it is still shared across the same phase-out calculation, but it will not generate a refund on its own.

You Can Stack It With Other Credits

The Child Tax Credit is not exclusive. It can be claimed alongside the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Credit for actual childcare expenses, and education credits if the same child has qualifying expenses. Claiming one does not reduce the others.

The interaction to watch is with the EITC, because both are aimed at working families with modest income and both are based on earned income. If you are eligible for both, the combined benefit can be substantial, and the Child Tax Credit and EITC Calculator will estimate them together.

Where to Claim It

The Child Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit are both computed on Schedule 8812 and attached to your Form 1040. Part I works out the phase-out and the nonrefundable amount, and Part II works out the refundable amount from your earned income. If the refundable portion is greater than zero, expect the refund itself to be held until mid-February, because the IRS is required to hold Additional Child Tax Credit refunds until it has verified Social Security numbers.

If you are using the credit to reduce withholding during the year rather than to generate a big refund, adjusting your W-4 is the better move than waiting until spring. Our tax filing checklist covers what to have in hand before you start.

Five Mistakes to Avoid

1. Assuming a 17th birthday is fine. It is not. The age test is strict and the credit drops to $500 for that child.
2. Expecting the full $2,200 as a refund. Only $1,700 can be refundable, and only if your earned income is high enough to support it.
3. Forgetting the $2,500 earned income floor. Below it, the refundable portion is zero.
4. Double-claiming. A dependent cannot generate both the Child Tax Credit and the Credit for Other Dependents on the same return.
5. Ignoring the phase-out at higher income. At $450,000 of joint income, two children are worth $1,900 rather than $4,400, and the loss is easy to miss in tax software if you are not looking for it.

The Bottom Line

In 2026 the Child Tax Credit is $2,200 per qualifying child under 17, up to $1,700 of which is refundable. The refundable half is capped by earned income, not by child count, and the whole credit phases out by $50 per $1,000 of modified AGI above $200,000 single or $400,000 joint. Children who turn 17 or do not meet the SSN rules can still be worth $500 through the Credit for Other Dependents. Get the arithmetic right and this credit is one of the most reliable levers on a family's tax bill.