2025 and 2026 child tax credit rules

Child Tax Credit Calculator

Estimate Child Tax Credit and refundable Additional Child Tax Credit using current IRS phaseout and earned-income rules.

Reviewed QuickTaxTools editorial review Updated April 25, 2026 and aligned to the sources linked below.
Tax year 2025 and 2026 This page uses the federal or state scope called out in the methodology section.
Source set IRS, SSA, and official guidance Primary references are linked on-page and collected in the site sources library.
Methodology Source library
Family and income inputs
Use federal tax before Child Tax Credit and ACTC.
Credit before phaseout
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Credit after phaseout
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Nonrefundable CTC used
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Refundable ACTC
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Maximum credit per child-
Phaseout reduction-
Credit remaining after phaseout-
Unused CTC after tax liability-
Earned-income ACTC limit-
Sources: IRS child tax credit guidance for the $2,200 maximum credit, IRS additional child tax credit guidance for the refundable $1,700 limit, and current phaseout rules beginning at $200,000 for single/HOH or $400,000 for married filing jointly.
Estimate only. This page does not determine qualifying-child status, citizenship rules, or every Schedule 8812 detail. It is a planning calculator tied to current general IRS limits.

When this page is most useful

This calculator is best when you already have a rough estimate of federal tax before credits. It helps parents test how income, phaseouts, and earned income affect the split between the nonrefundable Child Tax Credit and the refundable Additional Child Tax Credit.

Methodology

How this calculator works

  • Multiply qualifying children by the current per-child credit amount shown on the page.
  • Reduce the credit with the IRS phaseout rule when modified AGI exceeds the threshold for the selected filing status.
  • Split the remaining amount between nonrefundable Child Tax Credit and refundable Additional Child Tax Credit based on earned income and remaining unused credit.
Worked example

Example scenario

A household with two qualifying children can use this page to see how the credit changes when income rises toward the phaseout range and how much of the remaining amount may still be refundable through the Additional Child Tax Credit.

Primary references

Direct sources for this page

IRS Child Tax Credit guidance

Current CTC and ACTC maximum amounts and phaseouts.

About Schedule 8812 (Form 1040)

Credit computation context for Child Tax Credit and ACTC.

IRS federal income tax rates and brackets

Used when the credit is paired with tax-liability planning.

Reviewed with the site-wide editorial methodology and the full sources library.
Next step

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Last updated: April 25, 2026. All calculator pages in this directory use the same static HTML/CSS/JS design and are linked together for Netlify deployment.
Frequently asked questions
What is the maximum child tax credit used here?
This calculator uses a maximum Child Tax Credit of up to $2,200 per qualifying child for the 2025 and 2026 tax years, based on current IRS guidance.
Why do I need to enter tax liability before credits?
The refundable Additional Child Tax Credit depends on how much child tax credit remains after the nonrefundable portion reduces your tax liability.
Does this include other dependent credit?
No. This page is focused on the Child Tax Credit for qualifying children under age 17 and the refundable Additional Child Tax Credit rules tied to that credit.