The Child Tax Credit is up to $2,000. The Credit for Other Dependents is worth up to $500. The IRS defines a dependent as a qualifying child (under age 19 or under 24 if a full-time student, or any age if permanently and totally disabled) or a qualifying relative.
Child Tax Credit (partially refundable)
For 2024, the credit is up to $2,000 per qualifying child. To qualify, a child must: Have a Social Security number. Be under age 17 at the end of 2024.
Claiming a dependent can make you eligible for several tax benefits, including tax credits and deductions that lower your tax bill or increase your refund. An individual can be a dependent of only one taxpayer in a tax year.
You fill this out if you earn $200,000 or less (or $400,000 or less for joint filers) and have dependents. It's a simple calculation where you multiply the number of children under age 17 by $2,000 and the number of other dependents by $500 – and add the two sums.
Head of Household with Dependents
You'll most likely get a tax refund if you claim no allowances or 1 allowance. If you want to get close to withholding your exact tax obligation, claim 2 allowances for yourself and an allowance for however many dependents you have (so claim 3 allowances if you have one dependent).
To meet the qualifying child test, your child must be younger than you or your spouse if filing jointly and either younger than 19 years old or be a "student" younger than 24 years old as of the end of the calendar year.
If, for example, you have three children under 17, enter $6,000 on the first blank line. If you have other qualified dependents, you can multiply the number of them by $500 and enter this amount in the second blank line of this section. Add these two figures together and enter the sum on line 3.
Claiming 1 reduces the amount of taxes that are withheld, which means you will get more money each paycheck instead of waiting until your tax refund. You could also still get a small refund while having a larger paycheck if you claim 1. It just depends on your situation.
The maximum credit amount is $500 for each qualifying person. The credit begins to decrease in value if your adjusted gross income exceeds $200,000 ($400,000 for married filing jointly).
Good Reasons
If your income disqualifies you from claiming these credits, your child's income probably doesn't disqualify him or her. Therefore, your child may be able to report payment of education expenses for tax purposes and then claim one of the credits – but only if you don't claim him or her as a dependent.
If you're a dependent on someone else's return
You may want to file anyway so you can get any federal income tax your employer withheld back as a refund or claim certain refundable tax credits.
Tax year 2025
No qualifying children: $649. 1 qualifying child: $4,328. 2 qualifying children: $7,152. 3 or more qualifying children: $8,046.
A person cannot be claimed as a dependent unless that person is a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico, for some part of the year. (There is an exception for certain adopted children.) A dependent must be either a qualifying child or qualifying relative.
Tax credit per child for 2024
The maximum tax credit per qualifying child is $2,000 for children under 17. For the refundable portion of the credit (or the additional child tax credit), you may receive up to $1,700 per qualifying child.
What you'll get. The most you can claim is $592.
For 2024 (taxes filed in 2025), the child tax credit is worth up to $2,000 per qualifying dependent child. The refundable portion, also known as the additional child tax credit, is worth up to $1,700.
Each dependency exemption you claim reduces your taxable income by $5,050.
Claiming fewer allowances on Form w-4 will result in more tax being withheld from your paychecks and less take-home pay. This might result in a larger tax refund. On the other hand, claiming too many allowances could mean that not enough tax is withheld during the year.
Total Dependents - Indicates total dollar amount for dependents claimed. Other Income - Indicates tax withheld for other income. This may include interest, dividends, and retirement income. Other Deductions - Indicates deductions other than the standard deduction to reduce withholdings.
The dependent variable is the one that depends on the value of some other number. If, say, y = x+3, then the value y can have depends on what the value of x is. Another way to put it is the dependent variable is the output value and the independent variable is the input value.
There is no age limit for how long you can claim adult children or other relatives as dependents, but they must meet other IRS requirements to continue to qualify. Additionally, once they are over 18 and no longer a student, they can only qualify as an "other dependent," not a qualifying child.
If your dependent has earned income, can you still claim the Child Tax Credit? The answer is “yes,” but your child must first meet all of the eligibility requirements to be claimed as your qualifying child this tax year.
It's up to you and your spouse. You might decide that the parent who gets the biggest tax benefit should claim the child. If you can't agree, however, the dependency claim goes to your spouse because your son lived with her for more of the year than he lived with you.
The child must be: (a) under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly), (b) under age 24 at the end of the year, a full- time student, and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly), or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled.