Tax year 2021/filing season 2022 Child Tax Credit frequently asked questions - Topic B: Eligibility rules for claiming the 2021 Child Tax Credit on a 2021 tax return

A1. You qualify for the Child Tax Credit if:

• You have a qualifying child, as described in Q B2;
• Your qualifying child has a Social Security number that is valid for employment, as described in Q B9; and
•  You meet other eligibility requirements for the Child Tax Credit, which you can check by using the IRS’s Interactive Tax Assistant: Does My Child/Dependent Qualify for the Child Tax Credit or the Credit for Other Dependents?

A2. For tax year 2021, a qualifying child is an individual who did not turn 18 before January 1, 2022, and who satisfies the following conditions:

1. The individual is the taxpayer’s son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, or half-sister, or a descendant of any of them (for example, a grandchild, niece, or nephew).
2. The individual did not provide more than one-half of his or her own support during 2021.
3. The individual lived with the taxpayer for more than one-half of tax year 2021. For exceptions to this requirement, see Residency Test in IRS Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.
4. The individual is properly claimed as the taxpayer’s dependent. For more information about how to properly claim an individual as a dependent, see IRS Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information PDF.
5. The individual does not file a joint return with the individual’s spouse for tax year 2021 or files it only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid.
6. The individual was a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien. For more information on this condition, see IRS Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens PDF.

A3. Yes. You may be eligible to claim the Credit for Other Dependents.

The Credit for Other Dependents is a tax credit available to taxpayers for each of their qualifying dependents who can't be claimed for the Child Tax Credit. You can claim up to $500 for each dependent who was a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien in 2021. The credit for other dependents is not refundable, which means it can only be used to reduce your tax liability.

These dependents include:

• Dependents who are age 18 or older.
• Dependents who have IRS individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs).
• Dependent parents or other qualifying relatives supported by the taxpayer.
• Dependents living with the taxpayer who aren’t related to the taxpayer.

You can check your eligibility for the Credit for Other Dependents with the IRS’s Interactive Tax Assistant: Does My Child/Dependent Qualify for the Child Tax Credit or the Credit for Other Dependents?

A4. No. If your qualifying child was alive at any time during 2021 and lived with you for more than half the time in 2021 that the child was alive, the child can be your qualifying child for purposes of the 2021 Child Tax Credit.

A5. If your qualifying child was born, and died, in 2021, but you do not have a Social Security number (SSN) for the child, you can enter “Died” instead of an SSN. You must attach a copy of the child’s birth certificate, death certificate, or hospital records to your 2021 tax return. The document must show your child was born alive.

A6. The location of your main home determines whether the Child Tax Credit is fully refundable to you. If you satisfy the main home requirement, the Child Tax Credit is fully refundable, which means you can get the money as a refund even if you received no income and/or you don’t owe any tax.

Main Home Requirement: You — or your spouse, if filing a joint return — must have your main home in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia for more than half the year.

Important Rules Regarding the Main Home Requirement:

• Your main home can be any location where you regularly live.
• Your main home may be your house, apartment, mobile home, shelter, temporary lodging, or other location and doesn’t need to be the same physical location throughout the taxable year.
• You don’t need a permanent address.
• If you are temporarily away from your main home because of illness, education, business, vacation, or military service, you are generally treated as living in your main home.

A7. You still qualify for up to $3,000 or $3,600 for each qualifying child, but the refundability of your Child Tax Credit will be limited.

The refundability of your credit is limited, similar to the 2020 Child Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit. This means that when your Child Tax Credit is more than your tax liability, your ability to claim any Additional Child Tax Credit more than your tax liability is limited in two ways.

• You must have earned income in 2021 or, if you have three or more qualifying children, have paid some Social Security taxes in 2021. The Additional Child Tax Credit increases when your earned income is higher.
• The Additional Child Tax Credit cannot be more than $1,400 per qualifying child.

The Additional Child Tax Credit is figured in Part II of Schedule 8812, Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents.

Residents of U.S. Territories should see the information provided in Q B16, Q B17, Q B18, and Q B19.

A8. No.

• Rule for You and Your Spouse: To claim the 2021 Child Tax Credit, you — and your spouse, if you are filing a joint return — must have a Social Security number (SSN) or an IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) issued on or before the due date of your 2021 tax return (including an extension if the extension was requested by the due date).
• Rule for Your Qualifying Children: Each qualifying child you claim for the 2021 Child Tax Credit must have an SSN that is valid for employment and is issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA) before the due date of your 2021 tax return (including an extension if the extension was requested by the due date).

A9. For qualifying children, the SSN must be valid for employment in the United States.

• If an individual was a U.S. citizen when he or she received the SSN, then it is valid for employment in the United States.
• If “Not Valid for Employment” is printed on the individual’s Social Security card and the individual’s immigration status has changed so that he or she is now a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, ask the SSA for a new Social Security card.
• If “Valid for Work Only With DHS Authorization” is printed on the individual’s Social Security card, the individual has an SSN valid for employment only as long as the Department of Homeland Security authorization is valid.

A10. No. You do not need income to be eligible for the Child Tax Credit if your main home is in the United States for more than half the year.

If you do not have income, and do not meet the main home requirement, you will not be able to benefit from the Child Tax Credit because the credit will not be refundable.

For information about the main home requirement for the fully refundable Child Tax Credit, see Q B6. For information about partial refundability of the Child Tax Credit, see Q B7.

If you are eligible for the Child Tax Credit, but don’t normally file a tax return, you need to file a 2021 tax return to claim the full amount of your credit. For more information, see Topic D: Claiming the 2021 Child Tax Credit If You Don’t Normally File a Tax Return.

Your Child Tax Credit may be reduced if your income exceeds certain amounts. For information about how your income could reduce the amount of (or “phase out”) Child Tax Credit that you can claim, see Q A7, Q A8, and Q A9 in Topic A: 2021 Child Tax Credit Basics.

A11. If you became eligible in 2021 (for example, because of the birth or adoption of a qualifying child), but didn’t receive advance Child Tax Credit payments for that qualifying child, you may claim the full amount of your allowable Child Tax Credit for that child when you file your 2021 tax return.

The IRS determined your advance Child Tax Credit payment amounts by estimating the amount of the Child Tax Credit that you would be eligible to claim on your 2021 tax return during the 2022 tax filing season.

Our estimate of your 2021 Child Tax Credit was based on information shown on your processed 2020 tax return (including information you entered in the Child Tax Credit Non-filer Sign-up Tool in 2021). If we had not processed your 2020 tax return when we determined the amount of your advance Child Tax Credit payment for any month starting July 2021, we estimated the amount of your 2021 Child Tax Credit based on information shown on your 2019 tax return (including information you entered in the Non-Filer Tool on IRS.gov in 2020). If we later processed your 2020 return, we recalculated your advance Child Tax Credit payments and adjusted any remaining monthly payments.

Disbursement of advance Child Tax Credit payments began in July and continued on a monthly basis through December 2021, generally based on the information contained in your 2019 or 2020 federal income tax return. If you are eligible for the Child Tax Credit, but did not receive advance Child Tax Credit payments, you can claim the full credit amount when you file your 2021 tax return during the 2022 tax filing season.

A12. You may owe an amount of additional federal income tax up to the total amount of those advance Child Tax Credit payments.

If the total of your advance payments was greater than the Child Tax Credit amount that you are eligible to properly claim on your 2021 tax return, you may have to repay some or all of the excess amount on your 2021 tax return during the 2022 tax filing season – unless you qualify for repayment protection.

For example, if you received advance Child Tax Credit payments for two qualifying children properly claimed on your 2020 tax return, but you no longer have qualifying children in 2021, the advance Child Tax Credit payments that you received based on those children are added to your 2021 income tax unless you qualify for repayment protection.

To help prevent the need for repayment of advance Child Tax Credit payments, the IRS allowed recipients to take one of the following actions:

• Agree with your qualifying child’s other parent to allow you to claim that child for the Child Tax Credit for a second year in a row, 2020 and 2021. You may need to receive from the child’s custodial parent a signed IRS Form 8332, Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent, and attach it to your 2021 tax return on which you claim the Child Tax Credit.
• Use the Child Tax Credit Update Portal (CTC UP) to unenroll from receiving advance Child Tax Credit payments.

For more information regarding your eligibility for repayment protection, and how to reconcile your advance Child Tax Credit payments with your Child Tax Credit on your 2021 tax return, see Topic C: Reconciling Advance Child Tax Credit Payments and Claiming the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Your 2021 Tax Return, and Topic D: Claiming the 2021 Child Tax Credit If You Don’t Normally File a Tax Return.

A13. Here are the rules that you should refer to:

• General Rule: The parent with whom the child lived for more than half of the year (custodial parent) can claim the child as their qualifying child.
• Exception: The custodial parent may allow the noncustodial parent to claim the qualifying child on the noncustodial parent’s return if:
  1. Certain conditions are met, see IRS Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information PDF;
  2. The custodial parent signs IRS Form 8332, Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent, or a substantially similar statement that he or she won't claim the child as a dependent for 2021; and
  3. The noncustodial parent includes a copy of the form or statement with his or her 2021 tax return.

A14. Here are the rules that you should refer to:

• General Rule: Either parent can claim the child because the child lived with each parent for more than half the year.
• Exception: If both parents claim the child on separate tax returns, we will provide the credit to the parent with whom the child lived for the greater number of days in 2021. If both parents claim the child on separate tax returns and the child lived with each parent for the same number of days, we will provide the credit to the parent with the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) for the year.

A15. Yes. You will be able to claim the full amount of the Child Tax Credit for your child on your 2021 tax return – even if the other parent received advance Child Tax Credit payments for that child.

The other parent should have unenrolled from receiving advance Child Tax Credit payments, but their decision will not affect your ability to claim the 2021 Child Tax Credit. The other parent may owe additional tax equal to the total amount of the advance Child Tax Credit payments that they received for your child.

For more information about repayment of advance Child Tax Credit payments, and how to receive the full amount of the Child Tax Credit for which you are eligible, see Topic C: Reconciling Advance Child Tax Credit Payments and Claiming the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Your 2021 Tax Return, and Topic D: Claiming the 2021 Child Tax Credit If You Don’t Normally File a Tax Return.

A16. As a bona fide resident of Puerto Rico, you may be eligible to claim the Child Tax Credit for your qualifying children on your:

• 2021 Form 1040-PR;
• 2021 Form 1040-SS; or
• Other 1040 series form filed with the IRS.

For additional information, please visit IRS.gov or see the instructions for Form 1040-PR (in Spanish) or Form 1040-SS PDF. Or, if you file another 1040 series form with the IRS, see Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) and the Schedule 8812 Instructions.

A17. You may claim the fully refundable Child Tax Credit even if you received no income and paid no U.S. Social Security taxes.

The credit has been extended to qualifying children under age 18. Depending on your modified adjusted gross income (AGI), you may receive an enhanced credit amount of up to $3,600 for a qualifying child under age 6 and up to $3,000 for a qualifying child over age 5 and under age 18. These amounts are based on the child’s age at the end of 2021.

Also, the requirement for bona fide residents of Puerto Rico to have three qualifying children was removed starting in 2021, and bona fide residents of Puerto Rico need only one qualifying child to claim the Child Tax Credit on their:

• 2021 Form 1040-PR;
• 2021 Form 1040-SS; or
• Other 1040 series form filed with the IRS.

For additional information, please visit IRS.gov or see the instructions for Form 1040-PR (in Spanish) or Form 1040-SS PDF. Or, if you file another 1040 series form with the IRS, see Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) and the Schedule 8812 Instructions.

A18. You may be eligible for the Child Tax Credit with your U.S. Territory tax agency, including advance Child Tax Credit payments. Please contact your local Territory tax agency regarding your eligibility, and for additional information about other changes to the Child Tax Credit.

A19. Citizenship or residency status in the Freely Associated States, by itself, does not entitle you to claim the 2021 Child Tax Credit. If your main home was in the 50 states or the District of Columbia for more than half of 2021 or you were a resident of Puerto Rico, you may be eligible for the Child Tax Credit with the IRS.

If you were a resident of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, you may be eligible to claim the Child Tax Credit with your U.S. Territory tax agency. Please contact your local Territory tax agency regarding your eligibility, and for additional information about other changes to the Child Tax Credit.

A20. No. If you did not receive advance Child Tax Credit payments, you may still be eligible for the 2021 Child Tax Credit.

If you didn’t receive advance Child Tax Credit payments because your main home was outside the United States for more than half the year, you may still qualify for a $3,000 or $3,600 Child Tax Credit for each qualifying child when you file your 2021 tax return. However, the refundability of the credit is limited, similar to the 2020 Child Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit.

• For additional information on partial refundability of the Child Tax Credit, see Q B7.

For more information about how to claim the full amount of your Child Tax Credit, see Topic D: Claiming the 2021 Child Tax Credit If You Don’t Normally File a Tax Return.

A21. Here are the more common reasons why you may not have received advance Child Tax Credit payments for a qualifying child.

• Your child was a new qualifying child during 2021. If you had a new qualifying child during 2021 – such as through birth or adoption – you may not have received all of the advance Child Tax Credit payments for that child for which you were eligible. For information about the requirements for a qualifying child, see Q B2.
  • Note: Children must be under the age of 18 at the end of 2021 to be qualifying children for purposes of the Child Tax Credit.
• Your qualifying child was claimed by someone else. If your qualifying child lived with you for the required period of time during 2021, but was claimed or could have been claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return for 2019 or 2020, you may not have received all of the advance Child Tax Credit payments for that child for which you were eligible.
  • Note: Before you claim the Child Tax Credit for a child, make sure that the child cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return for 2021. Also, for information on who can claim qualifying children who live in more than one household during the year, see Q B13 and Q B14.
• You did not have an IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). If you did not have an ITIN when advance Child Tax Credit payments were made during 2021, you would not have received advance payments.
  • Note: If you are issued an ITIN on or before the due date of your 2021 tax return (including an extension if the extension was requested by the due date), you may be eligible to claim the entire Child Tax Credit – including the advance Child Tax Credit payments that you missed. If you apply for an ITIN on or before the due date of your 2021 return (including extensions) and the IRS issues you an ITIN as a result of the application, the IRS will consider your ITIN as issued on or before the due date of your return.
• Your child did not have a Social Security number (SSN) valid for employment. If your child did not have an SSN valid for employment when advance Child Tax Credit payments were made during 2021, you would not have received advance payments.
  • Note: If your child receives an SSN valid for employment before the due date of your 2021 return (including an extension if the extension was requested by the due date), you may be eligible to claim the entire Child Tax Credit – including the advance Child Tax Credit payments that you missed. For information about SSNs that are “valid for employment,” see Q B9.
• Your income on your 2020 or 2019 tax return was too high. You may have received no advance Child Tax Credit payments, or reduced advance payments, because your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) was too high on the tax return that the IRS used to determine your advance payment amount.
  • Note: If you had a lower amount of income in 2021, you could be eligible to claim the 2021 Child Tax Credit – and receive some or all of the advance Child Tax Credit payments that you missed – when you file your 2021 tax return.