To qualify a child as a dependent for tax purposes, they must pass five primary tests: Relationship, Age, Residency, Support, and Joint Return. These criteria determine eligibility for tax benefits like the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
To be a qualifying child, the child must meet five tests: age, relationship, residency, support, and joint return. Failure to meet any of these means the child cannot be considered a dependent. A child who is permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year qualifies as a dependent child, regardless of age.
The residency test for a dependent looks at the amount of time a person lives with you in a single tax year. To be a qualifying child, the person must live with you for more than half the year.
An individual may be claimed as dependent by a taxpayer only if he or she satisfies the applicable support test: A dependent who is a qualifying child must not have provided more than one-half of his or her own support during the calendar year in which the taxpayer's tax year begins (see Qualifying Child Dependent).
To claim a dependent as a qualifying relative, the dependent must meet four criteria: not be a qualifying child, relationship test, gross income test, and you must provide more than half the person's total support for the year. This category includes dependents who are not your qualifying child but whom you support.
You must have earned income of at least $2,500 to be eligible for the ACTC. You qualify for the full amount of the Child Tax Credit for each qualifying child if you meet all eligibility factors and your annual income is not more than $200,000 ($400,000 if filing a joint return).
Credit for Child and Dependent Care Expenses – a qualifying child must be under the age of 13 or permanently and totally disabled.
Child Tax Credit 2025 payments
In the 2025 tax year, the CTC will not be paid out in the form of payments. Instead, it's a tax benefit that can provide families with up to $2,200 in tax relief per qualifying child. If your tax is already $0, you could get up to $1,700 per qualifying child as a refund.
Married filing jointly filing status
This status has the highest standard deduction and some of the most beneficial tax rate brackets. You file together and report combined income, along with your combined deductions and qualifying credits on the same return.
To file as head of household you must furnish over one-half of the cost of maintaining the household for you and a qualifying person. Therefore, only one of the parents will have contributed more than one-half of the cost of maintaining the household and be eligible to file as head of household.
The Child Tax Credit is a federal income tax credit available to parents with qualifying children. For the 2025 tax year, it's worth up to $2,200 for each qualifying child (the credit amount is adjusted for inflation beginning with the 2026 tax year).
Cousins do not meet the relationship test. Relatives do not have to be members of the taxpayer's household. Relationships established by marriage are not ended by death or divorce. For example, a daughter-in-law is a relative to her in-law parents even after the death of their son (her husband).
Support Test
The child cannot have provided over half of their own support during the year. The support test does not apply to the Earned Income Credit. Only the Age, Relationship, and Residency tests apply for the Earned Income Credit.
A qualifying child must meet five IRS tests: relationship, age, residency, support and joint return. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, sibling or a descendant of one of those individuals. For age, the child must be under 19 at the end of the year or under 24 if a full-time student.
Support Test (To Be a Qualifying Child)
To meet this test, the child can't have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year. This test is different from the support test to be a qualifying relative, which is described later.
You need to pay the tax charge for the tax year starting on 6 April 2025. If it's on or before 31 January 2027, you can pay through PAYE. If you cannot pay through PAYE then you must pay through Self Assessment instead.
Qualifications for the Child Tax Credit depend on several factors including the child's age, relationship, residency, and the taxpayer's income. Use Schedule 8812 and Form 1040 to claim the Child Tax Credit on your individual tax return.
File a new W-4 form with your employer to claim additional tax credits that you are eligible for. For a new parent with one child, the Child Tax Credit can reduce your taxes by up to $2,200 per year or about $183 a month ($2,200 ÷ 12 months).