Line 28 — Additional Child Tax Credit

Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit is the refundable portion of the child tax credit, the part the IRS can pay you as a refund even when you owe no tax. The regular child tax credit only offsets tax you actually owe. When your credit is larger than your tax bill, the leftover does not just vanish. A chunk of it can come back to you through the additional child tax credit, and that refundable amount lands on Form 1040 line 28. For 2025 the refundable cap is 1,700 dollars per qualifying child, as the IRS confirms in the 2025 Instructions for Schedule 8812. That cap matters because it means a family with no tax liability cannot recover the full 2,000 dollar credit per child, only up to 1,700 of it as a refund.

The mechanics run through Schedule 8812. You start with the full child tax credit of up to 2,000 dollars per qualifying child under age 17. That credit first wipes out your income tax. If credit is left over after your tax hits zero, Schedule 8812 tests how much of the remainder is refundable, capped at 1,700 dollars per child for 2025. That refundable result is what you carry to Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit, where it adds to your refund alongside your withholding and other payments. So the nonrefundable child tax credit and the refundable additional child tax credit are two halves of the same benefit, split by whether you had tax to offset.

A worked example shows how line 28 fills up. A married couple has two qualifying children, so up to 4,000 dollars of child tax credit. Their income tax before credits is only 1,200 dollars. The child tax credit knocks that 1,200 down to zero, using 1,200 of the 4,000. That leaves 2,800 dollars of credit unused. Schedule 8812 runs the refundable test and, because each child caps at 1,700, they can receive refundable additional child tax credit up to 3,400 dollars, but they only had 2,800 left, so the full 2,800 dollars flows to Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit as part of their refund. Their tax went to zero and they still walk away with a 2,800 dollar refund driven entirely by line 28.

We see this every year. Families assume that once their tax hits zero the rest of the child tax credit is gone. It is not. The refundable additional child tax credit on line 28 is exactly the mechanism that returns that value, and skipping Schedule 8812 leaves real money on the table. Tax software usually fills this in automatically, but people who file a bare bones return by hand often miss it, especially when their tax was already zero and they assumed there was nothing more to claim.

One edge case. The refundable additional child tax credit depends on having enough earned income, since the formula uses 15 percent of earned income above 2,500 dollars. A family living on investment income alone may get little or nothing on line 28 even with qualifying kids, because they have almost no earned income to feed the formula. If your situation is mixed between wages and investments, our individual tax return preparation team runs Schedule 8812 correctly so you capture every refundable dollar, and you can begin at our new client inquiry page.

Worth adding that the child tax credit itself phases out at higher incomes, which affects whether anything is even left to reach line 28. The credit begins to reduce once modified adjusted gross income passes 400,000 dollars for married filing jointly or 200,000 dollars for other filers, dropping by 50 dollars for each 1,000 dollars above the threshold. A high income family may see their child tax credit shrink or disappear before the refundable additional child tax credit ever comes into play, so the line 28 question only matters once you are under or near those income limits.

A child qualifies for the Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit only if they meet every test the IRS lays out for a qualifying child, and the rules are strict. The child must be under age 17 at the end of the year, be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible placed child, sibling, or a descendant of any of them, and have lived with you for more than half the year. The child must not have provided more than half of their own support, must be claimed as your dependent, and must have a valid social security number issued before the return due date. The IRS child tax credit page lists each test, and missing even one of them disqualifies the child for both the basic credit and the refundable amount on line 28.

The mechanics hinge on the social security number rule, which trips up more returns than any other piece. The qualifying child must have an SSN valid for employment, issued before the due date of your return including extensions. A child with only an individual taxpayer identification number does not qualify for the child tax credit or the additional child tax credit that lands on Form 1040 line 28. They may still qualify you for the smaller credit for other dependents, but that credit is not refundable, so it never reaches line 28. The number must exist by the deadline, not merely be applied for, which catches families with a newborn whose card has not arrived.

Worked example. You have a 15 year old daughter with a valid SSN and a 19 year old son in college. The daughter is under 17, lives with you, and has an SSN, so she counts toward your child tax credit and any additional child tax credit on line 28. The son is 19, over the age limit, so he does not generate child tax credit. He may qualify for the 500 dollar credit for other dependents, which reduces tax but does not flow to Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit because it is nonrefundable. So one child drives a potentially refundable credit and the other only a nonrefundable one, purely because of age.

We see this every year. A child turns 17 during the tax year and the parents still claim the full child tax credit. The age test is measured at year end. If the child is 17 on December 31, they are out for the child tax credit and out for the additional child tax credit on line 28 entirely. Track each child birthday against the calendar year, because the year a child turns 17 is the year the credit drops to the 500 dollar nonrefundable other dependent amount.

One edge case. In a divorce, only the parent who claims the child as a dependent, usually set by the custody agreement or Form 8332, can claim the child tax credit and the line 28 additional child tax credit. Both parents claiming the same child triggers an IRS freeze on both returns until it is sorted out. If custody and dependency are tangled, our tax strategy consulting team sorts out who claims whom, and our tax compliance service files it cleanly so the credit is not held up.

It also matters that the child must be a United States citizen, national, or resident for the year. A child living abroad who does not meet the residency rules will not qualify even if they are your dependent and under 17. This catches families with international ties who assume any dependent child counts. The residency and citizenship test sits alongside the social security number rule, and both must be satisfied before a child can drive any amount onto Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit.

The Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit is calculated on Schedule 8812 using an earned income formula, and the number is the smaller of two figures. The first figure is the unused child tax credit left after the credit offsets your tax. The second figure is 15 percent of your earned income above 2,500 dollars. The refundable result is also capped at 1,700 dollars per qualifying child for 2025. Whichever is smaller becomes your Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit, per the Schedule 8812 instructions. That three way comparison, unused credit against earned income limit against per child cap, is the heart of the whole calculation.

The mechanics walk through earned income. Earned income means wages, salary, and net self employment earnings, not investment income. You take that earned income, subtract 2,500 dollars, and multiply the result by 15 percent. That gives the maximum refundable amount the earned income test allows. You compare it against the unused credit and the per child cap, and the lowest of the three becomes what you write on Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit. The 2,500 dollar floor means the first 2,500 dollars of earnings never counts toward the refundable credit, which is why very low earners get a reduced amount.

Worked example. A single parent earns 30,000 dollars and has one qualifying child. The full child tax credit is 2,000 dollars. Their income tax is only 600 dollars, so the credit reduces tax to zero and leaves 1,400 dollars unused. The earned income test is 30,000 minus 2,500, which is 27,500, times 15 percent, which is 4,125 dollars. The per child refundable cap is 1,700 dollars. The smallest of 1,400 unused, 4,125 earned income limit, and 1,700 cap is 1,400 dollars, so 1,400 dollars goes on Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit. Here the unused credit, not the earned income limit, was the binding number.

We see this every year. Low earned income families with several children expect a big refundable credit, but the 15 percent earned income formula limits it. A parent earning 12,000 dollars with three children has an earned income test of 12,000 minus 2,500, times 15 percent, which is only 1,425 dollars total across all three kids, far below the per child caps. The earned income floor, not the number of children, drives their line 28 result, and adding a fourth child would not change that ceiling at all.

One edge case. Families with three or more children can sometimes use an alternative calculation tied to social security and Medicare taxes paid, which can raise the refundable amount above the basic 15 percent result. Schedule 8812 walks through it on a separate part of the form. If you have several children and modest earned income, our individual tax return preparation team checks both methods to get you the larger line 28 figure. Start at our new client inquiry page.

One more calculation wrinkle. The earned income used in the 15 percent formula is your own earned income, and on a joint return it is the combined earned income of both spouses. A couple where one spouse stays home and the other earns 28,000 dollars uses that full 28,000 in the formula. Nontaxable combat pay can be elected into earned income for this purpose, which sometimes raises the refundable amount for military families. Knowing exactly what counts as earned income is what separates a correct line 28 figure from one that leaves money behind.

The order in which credits stack also shapes what reaches line 28. Nonrefundable credits like education credits and the child and dependent care credit can reduce your tax before the child tax credit fully applies, which changes how much child tax credit is left over to push into the refundable additional child tax credit. A family with several nonrefundable credits may find their tax already low, leaving more child tax credit unused and a larger refundable amount on Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit than they expected from earned income alone.

If your refund includes the Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit, the IRS is legally barred from releasing any part of that refund before mid February, and that is the usual reason for the wait. The PATH Act requires the IRS to hold the entire refund, not just the credit portion, on returns that claim the additional child tax credit, so it can screen for identity theft and improper claims. The IRS states it cannot issue these refunds before mid February 2026 on the child tax credit page. This is a statutory hold, not a sign anything is wrong with your return, and it applies even to early filers who do everything correctly.

The mechanics of the hold are automatic. The moment your return shows an amount on Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit, the PATH Act flag attaches and the whole refund is frozen until the statutory release date, even the part tied to your withholding. After mid February the IRS processes the held returns in batches, so most affected filers see funds in the second half of February if they filed early and chose direct deposit. Filing on paper or claiming a check pushes the date later, sometimes into March, because paper adds weeks of processing on top of the statutory hold.

Worked example. You file electronically on January 30 with 1,700 dollars of additional child tax credit on line 28 and 3,000 dollars of withholding, for a 4,700 dollar refund. Even though your return is accepted in late January, the entire 4,700 dollars is held under the PATH Act because of the line 28 additional child tax credit. The IRS releases the batch in mid February and, with direct deposit, the money typically lands by late February rather than the usual three weeks after filing. The withholding portion you might expect quickly is locked up alongside the credit.

We see this every year. Clients panic in early February thinking their return was rejected when it is simply held by law. There is nothing wrong with the return. The Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit triggered a mandatory hold, and the refund tracker on the IRS site will show the expected date once the batch is released. Checking the tracker daily does not speed it up. The release date is set by statute, not by how often you refresh the page.

One edge case. If part of your refund is offset for back taxes, defaulted student loans, or past due child support, the held additional child tax credit can be reduced before it ever reaches you, and you will get a notice explaining the offset. The PATH hold and the offset are two separate reductions that can stack on the same refund. If your line 28 refund is delayed beyond late February or you received an offset notice, our IRS audit and notice assistance team tracks it down. You can begin at our new client inquiry page.

Bear in mind the hold applies to the whole tax return refund, not a separate check for the credit. The IRS issues one refund per return, so even the portion of your refund that has nothing to do with children rides along with the PATH Act timing. Filing a second return to try to separate the credit does not exist as an option. You file one return, the additional child tax credit on line 28 attaches the hold, and the entire refund releases together once the statutory date passes in mid February.

The release timing also depends on the IRS accepting your return cleanly in the first place. If your return is pulled for review because a dependent social security number was already used on another filing, the PATH Act hold is the least of your worries, since the review itself can add weeks. Filing early with accurate dependent information is the best way to land in the first batch released after the mid February date, rather than getting stuck behind a verification queue that has nothing to do with the statutory hold itself.

When the IRS adjusts your Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit, it usually means the agency recalculated the refundable credit and changed your refund, and you will get a notice such as a CP08 or a math error notice explaining the change. The adjustment can go either way. Sometimes the IRS finds you were owed additional child tax credit you did not claim and increases your refund, which is what a CP08 notice does. Other times it reduces the credit because a child did not meet a test. The IRS describes the increase case on its CP08 notice page. Reading the notice carefully tells you whether the IRS is offering you money or taking it away.

The mechanics depend on which notice arrived. A CP08 tells you the IRS believes you qualify for additional child tax credit you left off Form 1040 line 28, and it includes a worksheet or response form to claim it. A math error notice instead tells you the IRS already changed your line 28 figure, recomputed your refund or balance, and the adjustment is in effect unless you dispute it within the stated window, usually 60 days. The CP08 is an invitation to claim. The math error notice is a completed change you must respond to if you disagree.

Worked example. You filed with one qualifying child but left line 28 blank because your tax was zero and you assumed the credit was lost. The IRS sends a CP08 saying you may be entitled to up to 1,700 dollars of additional child tax credit. You complete the attached worksheet, confirm the child qualifies, and return it. The IRS then issues the additional refund tied to your Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit, money you would have forfeited otherwise. A single response form turned a zero into a 1,700 dollar refund.

We see this every year. People ignore a CP08 because it looks like a bill, when it is actually the IRS offering money back. On the other side, people accept a math error reduction of their line 28 credit without checking it, even when the IRS made the mistake by misreading a social security number or birth date. Both responses cost the family money. Always read which direction the notice runs before you decide whether to act or ignore it.

One edge case. If the IRS disallowed your additional child tax credit for not meeting the rules, you may be barred from claiming it for two years and have to file Form 8862 to claim it again later. That is a serious consequence worth fighting if the disallowance was wrong, because the ban reaches forward into future years, not just the year in question. If you have a notice adjusting your Form 1040 line 28 additional child tax credit, our IRS audit and notice assistance team reads it and responds, and our tax compliance service keeps future filings clean.

Keep a paper trail whenever you respond to a notice about the credit. Send your response by a method that gives you proof of delivery, and keep copies of the birth certificates, school records, or residency proof that establish each child qualifies. If the IRS later questions the same children again, having that documentation ready turns a second inquiry into a quick reply. The families who struggle most are the ones who threw away the records after the first year, then had to rebuild them under a deadline when a later notice arrived.

There is also a difference between a math error correction and a full examination of the credit. A math error notice fixes an obvious arithmetic or eligibility problem the IRS can see on the face of the return, and you can usually resolve it by phone or a short letter. A full examination is a deeper audit of whether each child qualifies, and it can require the documentation we mentioned. Knowing which one you face changes how you respond, because a math error has a short dispute window while an examination follows the regular audit process.