2027 Child Tax Credit: $2,300 Per Child, Refundable Limit and What Changes

For tax year 2027, the returns families file in early 2028, the Child Tax Credit is $2,300 per qualifying child under 17, and up to $1,800 per child can come back as a refund through the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC). The IRS set both figures in Rev. Proc. 2026-35, its annual inflation release, section 4.05.

For comparison, the 2026 figures were $2,200 per child and $1,700 refundable (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). The difference from 2026 is $100 per child on the credit and $100 on the refundable cap. Everything else that decides who gets the money, including the income limits and the Social Security number rule, is fixed by statute and carries over unchanged.

This page covers what is new for 2027 and how the numbers work. For the full set of qualifying tests and the claim walkthrough, see our main Child Tax Credit eligibility rules and claim guide; the tests it describes apply to 2027 as written.

Why the 2027 amounts are what they are

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025) rewrote the credit in section 70104. It made the $2,200 credit permanent starting with 2025 returns, so the drop to $1,000 per child that had been scheduled for 2026 never happened. It also added a new inflation rule for the credit amount in Internal Revenue Code section 24(i)(2).

Two separate indexing rules apply, and they explain why the two numbers can move at different times:

• The credit amount starts from $2,200 and is adjusted for tax years after 2025 using the chained consumer price index, measured against 2024. Any increase that is not a multiple of $100 is rounded down to the next $100.
• The refundable cap starts from a statutory $1,400 and has been indexed against 2017 prices since the 2018 law. That longer run of inflation is why it already stood at $1,700 for 2025 and 2026. It also rounds down to the next $100.

The round-down rule is the reason the credit stayed at $2,200 for 2026 even though prices rose during 2025: the adjustment did not reach a full $100. For 2027 the IRS figure is $2,300, and the refundable cap is $1,800. The ACTC can never exceed the credit itself, so the refundable portion is always the smaller of the two.

Several other dollar figures in the credit are written into the statute with no inflation adjustment at all, so they are identical in 2025, 2026 and 2027: the $500 Credit for Other Dependents, the $2,500 earned-income floor for the refund, and the $200,000 / $400,000 phase-out thresholds.

What the 2027 credit is worth for your family

The maximum credit is the per-child amount times the number of qualifying children, plus $500 for each other dependent. A family with two qualifying children can claim up to $4,600 on its 2027 return; with three children the ceiling is $6,900.

The credit first cuts the income tax you owe. If the credit is larger than your tax, the leftover can be refunded through the ACTC, but only up to $1,800 per child and only up to 15% of your earned income above $2,500. A parent with one child needs about $14,500 of earned income (wages or self-employment earnings) to reach the full refundable amount. Families with three or more children can use an alternative formula based on Social Security and Medicare taxes paid, which Schedule 8812 walks through.

Want your own number? Our Child Tax Credit calculator runs the credit, the refundable portion and the phase-out from your income and family size.

Income limits: the phase-out is not indexed

The credit starts shrinking once modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) passes $400,000 on a joint return or $200,000 for single, head of household and married filing separately filers. Section 24(h)(3) sets those thresholds as fixed dollar amounts, and P.L. 119-21 made them permanent without adding an inflation adjustment, so they are the same in 2027 as in 2018.

The reduction is $50 for every $1,000, or part of $1,000, of MAGI above the threshold, and it applies to the combined Child Tax Credit and Credit for Other Dependents. At the 2027 amount, a single parent with one child loses the whole credit once MAGI goes above $245,000; for a married couple filing jointly with one child the cutoff is $445,000. Each additional child pushes the cutoff higher.

MAGI for this credit is your adjusted gross income plus any income excluded under the foreign earned income exclusion, the foreign housing exclusion, or the exclusions for residents of Puerto Rico and U.S. territories. Americans working abroad cannot use the exclusion to slip under the threshold.

The SSN rule for 2027: child and parent

Since the 2025 tax year, section 24(h)(7) requires two Social Security numbers on the return before a family can claim the Child Tax Credit or the ACTC:

• The child’s SSN. Each qualifying child needs a valid SSN.
• The taxpayer’s SSN. The person claiming the credit needs a valid SSN. On a joint return, only one spouse needs it; the other spouse can have an SSN or an ITIN, issued by the return’s due date.

A valid SSN here means one issued to a U.S. citizen or to someone authorized to work in the United States, and issued before the return’s due date, including extensions. A card marked “Not Valid for Employment” does not count. A card marked “Valid for Work Only With DHS Authorization” counts only while that work authorization is valid.

Missing the SSN test does not always mean getting nothing. When a child fails only the SSN requirement but has an ITIN or ATIN, the statute treats the child as an “other dependent,” and the family can claim the $500 Credit for Other Dependents instead. That $500 is nonrefundable, so it only reduces tax owed, and the taxpayer still needs an SSN or ITIN issued by the due date. Our guide to the Credit for Other Dependents covers who qualifies.

How immigrant and visa-holder families qualify

Immigration status matters through two doors: whether you file as a resident for tax purposes (Form 1040) and whether the right family members hold work-authorized SSNs. Green card holders are tax residents. H-1B, L-1 and most other work-visa holders become residents once they meet the substantial presence test.

• Green card holders with SSNs qualify on the same terms as citizens, as long as each child has a valid SSN.
• H-1B worker with an H-4 spouse: the H-1B worker’s SSN satisfies the parent test on a joint return, even if the H-4 spouse has only an ITIN. A U.S.-born child has an SSN and qualifies for the full credit.
• Children who came on H-4 or L-2 visas usually cannot get an SSN because they are not work-authorized, so they hold ITINs. They do not qualify for the Child Tax Credit, but a child who is a resident alien and your dependent can bring the $500 Credit for Other Dependents.
• Both parents with ITINs only: no Child Tax Credit or ACTC, even for a U.S.-citizen child with an SSN. That child can still bring the $500 Credit for Other Dependents. More on this in our piece on ITIN households and the credit.
• Nonresident aliens filing Form 1040-NR, including most F-1 students in their first five calendar years, generally cannot claim the credit. The IRS makes exceptions for residents of Canada and Mexico and U.S. nationals, with limited access for residents of South Korea and for students and business apprentices covered by the U.S.-India tax treaty.

If you need a tax ID for a spouse or child, apply early: an ITIN or SSN issued after the return’s due date cannot rescue that year’s claim, original or amended. Our explainer on ITIN versus SSN covers which one each family member needs. For families that change status during the year, see the H-1B and F-1 Child Tax Credit rules.

Children who live abroad

A qualifying child must have lived with you for more than half of 2027. The test looks at whether you shared a home, not which country that home is in. Temporary absences for school, vacation, medical care or business count as time lived together, so a summer trip to see grandparents does not break the test. A baby born during 2027 counts as having lived with you all year if the child lived with you for the time the child was alive.

Where families get caught is the common arrangement of a child living with grandparents in India, the Philippines or Mexico while the parents work in the United States. That child fails the residency test, so there is no Child Tax Credit no matter how much the parents send home. The child must also be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or U.S. resident alien. A child who lives abroad and is not a U.S. citizen generally fails that test too, and the $500 Credit for Other Dependents excludes dependents who qualify only because they live in Canada or Mexico.

U.S. citizen families living abroad together can claim the credit, since the child lives with them. But anyone who files Form 2555 for the foreign earned income exclusion cannot claim the refundable ACTC. The credit can still offset U.S. tax owed, which is often zero after the exclusion, so expats with children sometimes compare the exclusion with the foreign tax credit before choosing.

Claiming the 2027 credit on Schedule 8812

You claim the credit on Schedule 8812 (Form 1040), Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents, attached to your 2027 Form 1040 or 1040-SR. In the Dependents section of Form 1040, check the “Child tax credit” box for each child with a valid SSN, or the “Credit for other dependents” box for a dependent who qualifies only for the $500. You cannot check both boxes for the same person.

1. Confirm ages. Children born in 2011 or later are under 17 at the end of 2027. A child born in 2010 turns 17 during 2027 and moves to the $500 credit.
2. Check every SSN card against the work-authorization legends above, and request a corrected card from the SSA if a child’s status changed.
3. Apply for missing IDs well before the 2027 return is due in April 2028.
4. Keep proof of residence such as school or medical records showing each child’s address; the IRS can ask for it.
5. Expect a mid-February refund: by law, the IRS cannot issue refunds on returns claiming the ACTC before mid-February, and the hold applies to the whole refund.

Families that had the credit denied in an earlier year may also need Form 8862 before the IRS will allow it again. Mixed-status households working through filing status choices can start with our mixed-status family tax guide.

What to do now

• Update your W-4 if the credit changed your math. The credit for 2027 is $2,300 per child; Step 3 of Form W-4 is where you count children so your paycheck withholding reflects it.
• Get an SSN for every newborn. Ask for one at the hospital through the birth registration form; it arrives faster than applying later.
• Fix ID gaps in your household now. A spouse who needs an ITIN or a child whose SSN card carries the wrong legend can cost the whole credit if the problem is still open on the due date.
• Watch the phase-out if you are near $200,000 or $400,000. Pre-tax 401(k) and HSA contributions lower MAGI and can keep more of the credit.

Frequently Asked Questions