The 2026 Child Tax Credit, and what a 2025 law actually changed about it
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A law signed in July 2025 made the larger Child Tax Credit permanent instead of letting it shrink back to $1,000 — and raised it slightly further. Here is the exact 2026 amount, the refundable portion, and who the income phase-out actually reaches.
The 2026 Child Tax Credit is worth up to $2,200 per qualifying child under 17, and up to $1,700 of that is refundable even if a family owes no federal tax. Both figures come from a law signed in July 2025 that rewrote what was supposed to happen to the credit this year. Without it, the temporary boost the credit got in 2018 was due to expire after 2025, sending the maximum back down to $1,000 per child. Instead it went up slightly and became permanent — though the income level at which it starts disappearing did not move at all.
The 2026 amount, in full
For any tax year beginning in 2026, the maximum Child Tax Credit is $2,200 per qualifying child under age 17 at year-end, and the amount used to figure the refundable portion — the Additional Child Tax Credit — is $1,700 per child. Both figures are set out directly in the IRS's own 2026 inflation-adjustment guidance, Revenue Procedure 2025-32, which confirms the $2,200 maximum is unchanged from 2025 — inflation over the relevant period was not large enough to clear the next $100 rounding step the law uses, so the number held flat rather than rising a second year in a row.
What the One Big Beautiful Bill Act actually did
The 2018 tax law had already raised the credit from $1,000 to $2,000 per child, but only on a temporary basis set to expire after 2025. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, made that increase permanent rather than letting it lapse, and on top of that raised the maximum a further $200, to $2,200, starting with tax year 2025. From 2026 onward the credit and its refundable portion both adjust for inflation each year going forward — a mechanism the credit never had before this law.
Who counts as a qualifying child
The core eligibility rules did not change: a qualifying child must be under 17 at the end of the tax year, be claimed as a dependent, and have lived with the taxpayer for more than half the year, among other standard dependency tests. One requirement OBBBA did add: the child must have a Social Security number valid for employment, and at least one parent claiming the credit must also have a work-eligible Social Security number or an equivalent identification number — a stricter identification standard than applied before the law changed.
How $2,200 compares with recent years
The maximum credit has moved in only two steps since the modern version of it was created, plus the small 2026 inflation bump:
| Tax years | Maximum credit per child |
|---|---|
| 2017 and earlier | $1,000 |
| 2018 – 2024 | $2,000 |
| 2025 | $2,200 |
| 2026 | $2,200 |
The jump from $1,000 to $2,000 came from the 2018 tax law and was always scheduled to expire after 2025 — without the 2025 law, 2026 would have been the year the credit fell back to $1,000 rather than holding at $2,200. Seen against that backdrop, the credit did not just avoid a cut in 2026; it is worth more than double what it would otherwise have been.
The income phase-out
The credit is reduced, not eliminated outright, above a set income level — and unlike the credit amount itself, that level is not adjusted for inflation and has stayed the same for years. It has not moved since the 2018 tax law set it, through the 2025 law that changed almost everything else about the credit, which is why a family that was above the threshold in 2020 is very likely still above it today even after several years of ordinary wage growth.
| Filing status | Full credit up to | Reduction above that |
|---|---|---|
| Married filing jointly | $400,000 | $50 per $1,000 of income over the threshold |
| All other filing statuses | $200,000 | $50 per $1,000 of income over the threshold |
These thresholds and the reduction mechanism itself are confirmed on the IRS's own Child Tax Credit page and in the instructions for Schedule 8812, the form used to calculate the credit. Because the reduction is gradual rather than a cliff, crossing the threshold by a small amount only trims the credit slightly — it takes a fairly large income to phase a family out of it entirely.
Two worked examples
A married couple filing jointly with two qualifying children and $420,000 in income:
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Base credit (2 children × $2,200) | $4,400 |
| Income over the $400,000 threshold | $20,000 |
| Reduction (20 × $50) | −$1,000 |
| Credit after phase-out | $3,400 |
A single parent with one child, $50,000 in earned income, and a tax bill of $500 before credits — well under the phase-out threshold, so the full $2,200 credit is available:
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Full credit | $2,200 |
| Used to reduce tax owed | −$500 |
| Remaining credit, refunded as Additional Child Tax Credit | $1,700 |
That second example lands on exactly the $1,700 refundable cap — the tax bill was low enough that the entire refundable maximum applies, and it fits comfortably under the separate earned-income formula that also limits the refund (15% of earned income above $2,500, which on $50,000 of earned income allows for far more than $1,700). Between the tax reduction and the refund, this family realizes the full $2,200 credit in cash terms.
Nonrefundable versus refundable, in practice
The credit works in two layers. The nonrefundable layer reduces tax owed, dollar for dollar, down to zero — it cannot push a tax bill below zero on its own. Whatever part of the credit is left unused after that, up to $1,700 per child, becomes the Additional Child Tax Credit and is paid out as part of a refund, subject to that same 15%-of-earned-income formula. A family with little or no tax liability and modest earned income is exactly the case this second layer exists for — it is the part of the credit that behaves like a direct payment rather than a tax reduction.
Sources
- IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted items, including OBBBA amendments
- IRS: Child Tax Credit
- IRS: Instructions for Schedule 8812 (Form 1040)
- IRS Newsroom: 2026 tax inflation adjustments, including OBBBA amendments
This is general information, not tax advice. Eligibility depends on your specific family and income situation, including rules not covered here for divorced or separated parents. For a decision about your own return, speak with a tax professional or use the IRS's own eligibility tools.