Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), more families will be eligible for the additional child tax credit because of a change to the way the credit is figured.

Taxpayers who cannot take full advantage of the child tax credit because the credit is more than the taxes they owe may receive a payment for some or all of the credit not used to offset their taxes. It is a refundable credit, which means taxpayers may receive refunds even when they do not owe any tax.

ARRA reduces the minimum earned income amount used to calculate the additional child tax credit to $3,000. Before ARRA, the minimum earned income amount was set to rise to $12,550. Reducing the amount to $3,000 permits more taxpayers to use the additional child tax credit and increases the amount of the payments they may receive.

This change applies to tax years beginning in 2009 and 2010.

See Can You Claim the Child Tax Credit?

Return to IRS Information Related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.