Will claiming the child tax credit delay your tax refund in 2025? What you need to know
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You’re doing everything right: you’ve gathered all your tax documents, you’ve circled the start of the 2025 tax season on your calendar, you’ve bookmarked the IRS refund tracking tool. Now you just wait for the refund to come in as soon as possible, right? You may need to adjust your expectations.
The Child Tax Credit allows parents to reduce the amount they owe in taxes each year, depending on the number of qualifying children they can claim as dependents, in an effort to help manage the costs of raising a family. The effect that child tax credits can have is significant, according to a study by Columbia University on the expansion of the child tax credit in 2021 finding that the payments reduced monthly rates of child poverty by almost 30%.
Under current rules, the credit can both reduce the amount you may owe in taxes to $0 and increase the amount you may get back in refund. However, it’s that last option, known as a “refundable tax credit,” that could mean you don’t receive your full tax refund right away.
Read on to find out why, and for more tax season information, see if your state offers its own child tax credit and what year-end hacks can boost your 2025 returns.
How much money can I get from the child tax credit?
Under the current expansion of the credit at the federal level, you can get up to $2,000 per dependent child from the child tax credit. Of that amount, you can also choose to get as much as $1,700 back per child as part of your refund. That’s officially known as a “supplemental child tax credit,” and once you try to go that direction, you’re going to run into potential delays.
The current value of the credit was established as a temporary expansion by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and will last until the end of 2025. If Congress does not approve another expansion by then, it will revert to the value set in the permanent law: $1,000 per dependent child, all refundable.
Why don’t I get my money back immediately if I previously filed and applied for the child tax credit?
If you expect a tax benefit from the credit, the IRS is required by law not to issue your refund until mid-February, as a fraud check. In 2024, refunds related to the additional child tax credit began on February 27.
That means if you complete and file your taxes before that date, you’ll have to wait until that date to receive your full return, not just the amount associated with the credit.
If you only choose the standard child tax credit, the non-refundable credit that only reduces your tax liability, you should experience no additional delays in getting your refund.
For more information on how to prepare for tax season, find out what the future could hold for home energy tax credits.
