Child tax credit calculator 2026

How much is the child tax credit for 2026?

$2,200 for each qualifying child, and $500 for each other dependent (the credit for other dependents). The IRS lists $2,200 for 2026 in Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 4.05; the 2025 tax law set the amount at $2,200 and indexes it from 2026, rounding any increase down to a multiple of $100, which left it at $2,200 for 2026. The $500 amount is fixed in the law. These are 2026 tax-year amounts, claimed on the return you file in 2027. The credit is first applied against your income tax; if the credit is larger than the tax, up to $1,700 per child can come back as the refundable Additional Child Tax Credit.

Who counts as a qualifying child?

For the child tax credit the child must be your dependent, under age 17 at the end of 2026 (the IRS's own example: a child who turned 17 on December 30, 2026 does not count), and meet the dependent tests in IRS Publication 501: relationship (your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half or step sibling, or a descendant of any of them, including a grandchild, niece or nephew); the child lived with you for more than half the year; the child did not provide more than half of their own support; the child is not filing a joint return except to claim a refund; and the child is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or U.S. resident alien. Both you (at least one spouse on a joint return) and the child need a Social Security number valid for employment, issued before the due date of your return including extensions. A dependent who is 17 or older, or who has an ITIN or ATIN instead of an SSN, can qualify you for the $500 credit for other dependents instead. This calculator does not check these tests: you enter the counts.

How does the income phase-out work?

The credit starts to shrink when modified AGI is above $200,000 ($400,000 on a joint return). It falls by $50 for each $1,000, or part of $1,000, over the threshold — in Schedule 8812 terms, the excess is rounded up to the next $1,000 and multiplied by 5%. For a single filer with one child and a MAGI of $215,500, the excess is $15,500, rounded up to $16,000; 5% of that is $800; the credit becomes $1,400 instead of $2,200. With one child the credit lasts until MAGI of $243,000 ($50 left) and is gone one dollar later ($243,001 gives $0). Modified AGI is your adjusted gross income plus income excluded for foreign earned income and for Puerto Rico and American Samoa.

What is the refundable part (Additional Child Tax Credit)?

If the credit is larger than your tax, the unused part can be paid to you as the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) — but only for qualifying children under 17 (the credit for other dependents is never refundable). The ACTC is the smallest of three amounts: the unused credit, $1,700 for each qualifying child in 2026, and 15% of your earned income above $2,500. So with earned income of $2,500 or less there is no refundable credit. With three or more children, Schedule 8812 Part II-B lets you use the larger of that 15% figure and your Social Security and Medicare taxes (with half of self-employment tax and some other taxes added) minus any earned income credit; this calculator asks for those three amounts when you enter three or more children. The IRS says refunds that include the ACTC cannot be issued before mid-February. The draft 2026 instructions also say that to receive a refund of the ACTC you must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or qualified alien.

How does the calculator work? Example

It follows the lines of Schedule 8812. Take a head of household with two children under 17, an AGI of $38,000 and earned income of $38,000. After the 2026 standard deduction of $24,150 the taxable income is $13,850 and the tax is $1,385. The credit is 2 × $2,200 = $4,400, with no phase-out. It cuts the tax to $0, using $1,385. The unused $3,015 is under the $3,400 cap (2 × $1,700) and under 15% of $35,500 = $5,325, so the refundable credit is $3,015. Total: $4,400. These are the values in the form; they are example numbers, not typical ones.

What do I enter as the tax?

Enter the tax that the credit can reduce: the tax on your Form 1040 (line 18, including alternative minimum tax if any) minus the credits that are applied before the child credits, such as the foreign tax credit, child and dependent care credit, education credits, retirement savings credit and credit for the elderly or disabled (Credit Limit Worksheet A in the Schedule 8812 instructions). If you do not know it, choose "From taxable income" and enter your taxable income: the calculator then takes the tax from the 2026 brackets on ordinary income, which ignores lower capital gains rates, alternative minimum tax and other credits.

What does this calculator leave out?

The Social Security number, age, relationship, residency and support tests (you decide the counts), filers who exclude foreign earned income on Form 2555 (they cannot claim the ACTC), bona fide residents of Puerto Rico, Form 8862 after a past disallowance, divorced or separated parents who share a child, and any state child credit. Pub. 972, the old IRS publication on this credit, has not been issued since 2021; its content is now in the instructions for Schedule 8812. The IRS had published only drafts of the 2026 Schedule 8812 and its instructions when this page was checked, and the draft uses the same $2,200, $500, $1,700, $2,500 and 15% figures as the 2025 form.

An estimate for planning only — not tax advice; your tax return decides. Sources: IRC §24 (as amended by Public Law 119-21), IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 section 4.05, the IRS Child Tax Credit page, Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) and its instructions (2025, and the 2026 drafts) and Publication 501 (2025); checked October 7, 2026. Work out the tax before credits in the income tax calculator, see what a paycheck keeps in the paycheck calculator, plan payments in the quarterly tax calculator and compute self-employment tax in the self-employment tax calculator. How we check our calculators.