Why is my child tax credit showing as $0 when I have four kids? Something is wrong - need help!

This definitely sounds like something isn't right. The Child Tax Credit for 2024 (filing in 2025) should be $2,000 per qualifying child under 17. With four qualifying children, you should be seeing $8,000 in Child Tax Credits, though the actual amount you receive depends on your tax liability. There are a few common reasons this might be happening. First, check if you have enough tax liability - the Child Tax Credit is nonrefundable beyond $1,600 per child (that portion is the Additional Child Tax Credit which is refundable). However, with your income level, this likely isn't the issue. Another possibility is that somewhere in the software, there might be a question about qualifying child requirements that was answered incorrectly. Double-check that you've confirmed all children lived with you for more than half the year, have valid SSNs, and that you've properly indicated your relationship to them.

I had a similar issue last year and found that using https://taxr.ai saved me hours of frustration. I was getting $0 for child tax credits despite having three eligible kids, and I couldn't figure out what was going wrong. I uploaded my tax documents, and the system analyzed everything and identified that I had accidentally marked my dependents as "not qualifying" for the Child Tax Credit in one section of the form. It was a really subtle mistake that I missed despite checking multiple times. Their tech spotted it immediately and explained exactly where to fix it. The cool thing was that it showed me side-by-side what was wrong and how to fix it. I corrected the error and suddenly all $6,000 of my child tax credits appeared! Might be worth trying for your situation.

I have to eat my words about being skeptical of taxr.ai. After continuing to struggle with my child tax credit issues, I decided to give it a try last night. Uploaded my forms and within minutes it identified that I had somehow checked a box indicating my kids didn't have valid SSNs for the full year (which they absolutely do). The error was buried in a supplemental form I didn't even remember filling out! Once I fixed that simple checkbox, all $4,000 of my child tax credits appeared instantly. The analysis also found a missed education credit worth $1,500 that I had overlooked completely. Total game-changer for my refund situation. Sometimes the new tech actually does what it claims!

Anyone who's dealt with the IRS knows how frustrating it can be to get straight answers about tax credits. After weeks of trying to reach someone at the IRS about my missing child tax credits last year, I was ready to give up. The automated system kept disconnecting me, and when I did get through, I was on hold for hours only to be told I needed to speak to a different department. I tried https://claimyr.com after seeing it recommended in another tax group. They connected me to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes when I'd been unable to get through for weeks. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent was able to confirm there was a flag on my account related to a previous year's return that was causing my child tax credits to be zeroed out automatically. Got it resolved in one call after weeks of frustration.

I need to publicly apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. After continuing to get nowhere with the IRS about my Child Tax Credit issues for WEEKS, I decided to try it yesterday out of desperation. The service called me back in 35 minutes with an actual IRS agent on the line! The agent explained that my Child Tax Credits were showing as $0 because there was a data matching issue with my children's SSNs from a previous year that had never been resolved. One 20-minute conversation fixed the problem that I'd been trying to solve for over a month. My amended return is now being processed and I'll be getting the full $6,000 for my three kids. I've never been so happy to be wrong about something!

Check if you accidentally entered something on Form 8862 (Information To Claim Certain Credits After Disallowance). Sometimes tax software will include this form if you answer certain questions in a specific way, and this can mess up your child tax credits. Also, did you receive any advance Child Tax Credit payments in 2021? There were some weird carryover issues that affected some people's 2022-2024 returns.

Has anyone noticed that TurboTax seems especially glitchy with child tax credits this year? I've had similar issues where it zeroed out my credits, then they reappeared when I went back and re-entered the exact same information!

I'm glad you were able to resolve this issue! Your experience highlights a really important point about tax software - sometimes the smallest input errors can have huge impacts on your return. For future reference, one thing that might help others avoid this is to always do a final review of the "Review Your Return" or summary section before filing. Most tax software will show you a breakdown of all your credits and deductions there, which makes it easier to spot when something looks wrong (like $0 child tax credits when you clearly have qualifying children). Also, if anyone else runs into similar issues, try using the "Forms Mode" or "Detailed View" in your tax software if available. Sometimes the interview-style questions can lead to these kinds of dropdown errors, but looking at the actual tax forms can make it clearer what information is being entered where. Thanks for sharing your solution - I'm sure this will help other parents who encounter the same problem!