As is often the case, many tax details change somewhat as the administration in Washington D.C. lays the groundwork for their particular agenda. Many of these tweaks and changes take some time to be put into full effect and staying up to date on all of the ins and outs can be a daunting task. Thankfully, there are professionals available whose responsibility it is to know the proper filing procedures and ensure that your tax return is completed appropriately.

One such change for the current filing season involves the child tax credit. While many assume of parents, or those who have children, that they are able to automatically deduct the number of children from their taxes owed, this is not entirely the case. While partially true, there is much more to the story than meets the eye. In the past, each qualifying child deduction was $1,000. This has changed to allow for deductions up to $2,000 per qualifying child during the 2018 year, 2019 filing season.

Coupled with other changes to know about for 2019, there are certain factors to determine if a child is eligible to be claimed for the credit. Not all kids are automatically eligible and taxpayers must ensure that their children meet the requirements laid forth by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in order to claim the credit on their taxes.

Following are six factors which must be met in order to claim the child tax credit.

CITIZENSHIP
Child being claimed must possess their own unique social security number administered by the Social Security Administration. These numbers are tied to all citizens, nationals or resident aliens of the United States of America.

AGE
In order to qualify, the child cannot exceed 17 years old at the conclusion of the tax year in question. For example, the individual cannot turn 17 prior to December 31, 2018.

RELATION
There must be a relationship present. According to the IRS website this includes, “son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister or a descendant of any of these individuals, which includes your grandchild, niece or nephew. An adopted child is always treated as your own child. An adopted child includes a child lawfully placed with you for legal adoption.”

RESIDENCY
In addition to providing support, the child must have lived with claimant for over half of the year in question.

SUPPORT
Child in question did not provide any or less than half of their own expenses used to live.

DEPENDENT
Responsible party must claim the child as their own dependent. While this figures to be common knowledge, there are sometimes issues involving custody which require dependency establishment.  

The tax experts at Bloch Rothman and Associates are ready and willing to assist with all of your questions and filing needs, including any unknowns regarding the new child tax credit and filing responsibilities. Serving Denver and the surrounding area for 35 years, our firm has an extensive history in helping clients with any and all of their tax issues or dealings with the Internal Revenue Service. If you have questions about your personal, business, estate or any other filings, don’t hesitate to contact us today. Available for all of your tax needs and filings there are also a number of bookkeeping and payroll services offered to assist you and your business. We look forward to meeting you and serving whatever your needs may be soon!