How Much Do You Have to Make to Get Child Tax Credit?

To get the Child Tax Credit for the 2025 tax year, you need at least $2,500 in earned income to receive any refundable portion, and your modified adjusted gross income must stay at or below $200,000 (or $400,000 if married filing jointly) to receive the full $2,200 per child. Above those upper thresholds the credit shrinks gradually, and below the $2,500 earned income floor the refundable piece is off the table entirely. How much you actually get depends on where your income falls between those two markers and how much federal tax you owe.¹

The $2,500 Earned Income Floor

The Child Tax Credit has two pieces. The main credit is non-refundable up to $2,200 per qualifying child, which means it can wipe out federal income tax you owe but cannot generate a refund on its own. If you owe little or no federal tax, that piece does little for you.¹

The Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) is the refundable piece. It can put cash in your pocket even if your tax bill is zero. To claim any ACTC, you need at least $2,500 in earned income for the year.¹

Earned income means wages, salary, tips, and net self-employment earnings. Investment income, Social Security benefits, unemployment compensation, and other passive sources don’t count toward the $2,500 floor. If your entire income for the year comes from something other than work, you cannot claim the refundable credit no matter how many children you have.

Once you clear $2,500, the refundable credit equals 15% of every dollar of earned income above that line, capped at $1,700 per qualifying child for 2025.² To hit the full $1,700 refundable amount for one child through the 15% formula, you need roughly $13,834 in earned income. Families with multiple children can receive up to $1,700 per child, though the 15% math means proportionally more earned income is required to reach the cap for each additional child.

You claim the ACTC by filing Schedule 8812 with your Form 1040. Most tax software handles the calculation automatically.¹

The Upper Income Limits Where the Credit Shrinks

At the other end, the credit stays at its full $2,200 per child as long as your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) sits at or below the threshold for your filing status. For most people, MAGI matches the adjusted gross income shown on your Form 1040.¹

Married filing jointly: $400,000
Single, head of household, or married filing separately: $200,000

These thresholds are fixed. They are not adjusted for inflation and stay in place until Congress changes them.

Once your MAGI crosses the threshold, the credit is reduced by $50 for every $1,000 (or fraction of $1,000) over the line, which works out to a 5% phase-out rate. A married couple earning $410,000 is $10,000 over the $400,000 line, so their total credit drops by $500. If they have two qualifying children, their maximum credit falls from $4,400 to $3,900.

The credit phases out entirely at high enough incomes. A married couple with one child claiming the full $2,200 loses it completely once MAGI reaches $444,000, since $2,200 divided by $50 equals 44 thousand-dollar increments above the threshold. Families with more children can earn more before the credit disappears, because there’s more credit to phase out in the first place.

How Much You Can Actually Get

For the 2025 tax year, the maximum Child Tax Credit is $2,200 per qualifying child. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, made this expanded amount permanent and added annual inflation adjustments starting in 2026.³

Of that $2,200, up to $1,700 per child can come back to you as a refund through the ACTC. The remaining $500 is only useful if you owe federal income tax the credit can offset. So the practical answer to “how much can I get” depends on three things at once: how much you earned, how much federal tax you owe, and how many qualifying children you claim.

A Worked Example

Consider a single parent with two qualifying children who earns $28,000 and owes $800 in federal income tax:

Maximum credit: $2,200 × 2 = $4,400
Phase-out reduction: $0, since MAGI is well below $200,000
Non-refundable portion used: $800, wiping out the tax bill
Leftover credit: $4,400 − $800 = $3,600
15% formula: ($28,000 − $2,500) × 15% = $3,825
Refundable cap: $1,700 × 2 = $3,400
Refundable ACTC received: $3,400 (the cap is the limiting factor)
Total benefit: $800 in tax eliminated plus a $3,400 refund, for $4,200

The same family earning only $2,000 for the year would get nothing from the credit. They fall below the earned income floor, and with no tax liability the non-refundable piece has nothing to offset.

Income Isn’t the Only Test

Even if your income lands squarely in the qualifying range, the child you claim still has to meet the IRS’s rules for a qualifying child. All of these must be true:¹

The child was under 17 at the end of the tax year.
The child is your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, sibling, half-sibling, stepsibling, or a descendant of any of them (including grandchildren, nieces, and nephews). Adopted children count the same as biological.
The child lived with you more than half the year. Temporary absences for school, medical care, or military service still count as time in your home.
The child did not provide more than half of their own support.
The child did not file a joint return, except to claim a refund of withheld tax.
The child is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien.⁴

A child who turns 17 during the tax year no longer qualifies for the Child Tax Credit but may qualify for the $500 non-refundable Credit for Other Dependents, which uses the same $200,000 and $400,000 income thresholds.¹

The Social Security Number Requirement

You and each qualifying child must have a Social Security number valid for employment, and the child’s SSN must be issued before the due date of your return, including extensions.¹ An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) does not work. A child with only an ITIN is not eligible for the Child Tax Credit, no matter what your income looks like.⁴ If your child was born during the tax year, apply for the SSN promptly so it arrives before your filing deadline.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) (2025)
3
Internal Revenue Service. One, Big, Beautiful Bill Provisions
4
Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit 4