Taxpayers claiming a child as a dependent may also be able to receive a credit under Line 51 of Form 1040. More specifically, a child will be considered a qualifying child for Child Tax Credit purposes if the child is (i) the taxpayer’s dependent, (ii) under the age of 17 at the end of 2012, and (iii) meets each of the Step 1-3 conditions under the Line 6c Instructions (see page 16). Taxpayers seeking to claim this credit should be sure to check the Column (4) box(ex) on Line 6c of Form 1040 for each qualifying child. Furthermore, if the qualifying child has an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) instead of a Social Security Number (SSN), the claiming taxpayer must also file Schedule 8812.
Once a taxpayer determines he/she is eligible to take this credit, the Child Tax Credit Worksheet (see page 45-46) should be completed and attached1 to Form 1040. As the Worksheet will explain, taxpayers with an Adjusted Gross Income over a certain threshold are not entitled to this credit.
1Under rare circumstances, taxpayers should use Publication 972 instead of the Child Tax Credit Worksheet. This includes taxpayers that are (1) claiming the adoption credit, mortgage interest credit, District of Columbia first-time home buyer credit, or residential energy efficient property credit, (2) excluding income from Puerto Rico, or (3) filing Form 2555, Form 2555-EZ, or Form 4563.
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