Updated · Built and checked by the PlinzoTools team, formulas tested against published sources
Estimate your Child Tax Credit from your number of qualifying children and AGI.
This tool estimates the federal Child Tax Credit using the current IRS rules: a base credit of $2,200 per qualifying child under 17, reduced by $50 for every $1,000 (or part of $1,000) your AGI exceeds $200,000 (Single/Head of Household) or $400,000 (Married Filing Jointly). This is a simplified estimate -- it doesn't model every qualifying-child eligibility rule (relationship, residency, support tests) or the partially-refundable Additional Child Tax Credit. Verify against the current tax year's IRS rules before filing.
Enter your number of qualifying children under 17 and your AGI, and select your filing status. Your estimated credit appears instantly.
The tool multiplies your number of children by 2,200 to get the base credit. It then checks your AGI against a threshold: 200,000 if you choose Single / Head of Household, or 400,000 if you choose Married filing jointly. Any AGI above the threshold is divided by 1,000 and rounded up to the next whole number, and that count is multiplied by 50 to get the reduction. The final credit is the base minus the reduction, never below zero. The output is a whole-dollar figure. The filing status list combines Single and Head of Household into one option.
Credit = (children x 2,200) - (50 x rounded-up thousands of AGI over the threshold), minimum 0
The rounding rule matters: an AGI just one dollar over the threshold already triggers a full 50 reduction, because any part of 1,000 counts as a whole unit.
The number is an estimate of the credit amount available before considering your tax liability. A credit reduces tax owed directly, which makes it more valuable than a deduction of the same size. The tool does not model how much of the credit is refundable when your tax bill is small, so it does not tell you what you would actually receive or reduce on the return. The refundable portion and its earned-income requirements are a separate part of the IRS rules.
Credit amounts and thresholds have changed through legislation before and may change again, so verify the current year's rules at irs.gov. Custody arrangements, divorced parents, and children with different residency situations need the detailed qualifying-child rules, where a tax professional or the IRS interactive tools can give a reliable answer.
No -- it assumes the children you enter already meet the IRS's relationship, age, residency, and support qualifying tests. It only models the credit amount and the AGI-based phase-out.
These reflect the amounts on IRS.gov's Child Tax Credit page ($2,200 per qualifying child, phase-out from $200,000 / $400,000 of AGI). Child Tax Credit rules have changed in past years -- most recently by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act -- and could change again, so verify against the current year's IRS guidance.
The reduction counts every part of a 1,000 excess as a full 1,000, so even a small excess triggers one full 50 reduction. The tool rounds the excess up to the next whole thousand.
No. It calculates only the credit amount after the AGI phase-out. How much is refundable depends on other IRS rules that are not modeled.
The Single / Head of Household option, which uses the 200,000 threshold.
The base credit is zero, so the result is zero regardless of AGI.
Reference: Internal Revenue Service