Additional Child Tax Credit – Updates!

Additional Child Tax Credit – Updates!

Beginning in fiscal year 2016, there has been a crucial change to the guidelines for additional child tax credit.

Children for which the credit is request who do not have either a Social Security Number (SSN) or an ITIN prior to

the original filing due date, including extensions, cannot be claimed for – even if an SSN is received after the filing date.

A new rule had come into place this year, which determines that in the case of a request for credit that does not meet

the criteria because of negligence, a penalty of a two-year suspension of credit request will be invoked.

Should the request be deemed fraud, a ten-year penalty will be enforced.

In addition, it should be noted that child tax credit cannot be requested in addition to form 2555 or 2555EZ which exclude salary up to $101,300.

Children eligible for tax credit request are as follows:

1. The child must be the taxpayer’s child, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister or a descendent of one of these relatives.
2. The child must be under the age of 17 by the end of the fiscal year.
3. The child must not have provided more than half of their own support.
4. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the fiscal year.
5. The child must be claimed as a dependent on the tax return.
6. The child must be a US citizen or US resident.

The maximum amount requested for each child shall not exceed $1,000; this can be deducted from any tax debt, or requested as a cash return via form 1040 or 1040A.

The PATH Act of 2015 regulates credit permanence to an unlimited time*.