I have 3 kids and am only receiving $1192 child tax credit. It says it is because my tax liability is less than full credit amount. What does that mean?

Although the Child Tax Credit is $1,000 per child, this tax credit has some limitations These limitations are as follows;

1.The Child Tax Credit is limited if your modified adjusted gross income is above a certain amount.
The amount at which this phase-out begins varies depending on your filing status:

• Married Filing Jointly $110,000
• Married Filing Separately $55,000
• All others $75,000

2.The Child Tax Credit is generally limited by the amount of the income tax you owe as well as any alternative minimum tax you owe.
Thus, for example, let us assume you have 2 qualifying children, therefore you are entitled to claim $2,000 ( 2 x $1,000) in child care credit. Let us assume that you meet the adjusted gross income test (Point 1 above) but your tax liability is only $2,500 and you have withheld only $1,500. You are only entitled to claim $1,000 in Child Tax Credit (the lesser of $2,000 or $2,500 -$1,500). In other words, if you did not have a tax liability you would not be entitled to any child tax credit.

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Ask TaxGuru Please refer to the legal disclaimer.

A child tax credit is a tax credit that may depend on the number of dependent children in a family. The credit may depend on other factors as well: typically it depends on income level. For example, in the United States, only families making less than $110K per year may claim the full credit. In many US counties the median family income is more than $110K per year, so the income level of the family is a larger consideration than the number of children. For example, in 2009, the majority of families in Loudoun County made $110,600 or more and would therefore not receive the full credit. Similarly, in the United Kingdom the tax credit is only available for families making less than £58,000 per year.
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Earl Nunes