Child Tax Credit
Categories: Tax, Econ, Regulations
Started in 1997, the Child Tax Credit is an amount you get counted towards your taxes for each qualifying kid you claim. (Evidently, it took that long for the government to figure out that raising children is an expensive proposition.) In 2017, the credit was set at $1,000 for each dependent kid under 17 years of age.
In December 2017, the government implemented changes to the tax credit system for 2018. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the credit amount per kid was raised to $2,000, although the refundable amount caps at $1,400.
In the past, only the person who could claim a dependent exemption for that child could also claim the credit, but starting in 2018 the exemptions will be removed and only the credit system will apply. The criteria the TCJA puts in place expires after December 31, 2025.
