The Child Tax Credit may be able to reduce your federal income tax by up to $1,000 for each qualifying child.  To qualify for the credit, each child must pass six tests.

 

 Age Test  

 To qualify, a child must have been under age 17 – age 16 or younger – at the  end of 2015.

 Relationship Test  

 To claim a child for purposes of the Child Tax Credit, they must either be your  son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, adopted child, foster child, brother,      sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or descendent of any of  them.

 Support Test  

 In order to claim a child for this credit, the child must not have provided more  than half of their own support.

 Dependent Test  

 You must claim the child as a dependent on your federal tax return.

 Citizenship Test  

 To meet the citizenship test, the child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or  U.S. resident alien.

 Residence Test  

 The child must have lived with you for more than half of 2015. There are some  exceptions to the residence test, which can be found in IRS Publication 972,  Child Tax Credit.

 

Limitations - The credit is limited and starts decreasing in value if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is above a certain amount. The amount at which this phase-out begins varies depending on your filing status. For married taxpayers filing a joint return, the phase-out begins at $110,000. For married taxpayers filing a separate return, it begins at $55,000. For all other taxpayers, the phase-out begins at $75,000.

 

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