I'm a full time student and unemployed. I received financial and got a nice refund. I was told that if you receive a refund greater than $1000, that you had to file it as earned income. Is that true? Also if it would I be able to get the child tax act credit,since I just had a baby?

#1;no; any income you earn by working for someone else will be considered earned income. Salaries, wages, tips, professional fees, business income from self-employment, and farm income all count as earned income. Those are pretty straightforward. If you receive a federal tax refund, you never have to worry about paying taxes on it the following year; however, you may have to pay taxes on your state refunds, depending on how you handled deductions



#2; You say you have no earned income. that means you have said you have no income at all. That brings up the question how do you live? If you have alimony, that is income. If you have investment income, that is income. If you have enough income to owe tax, yes you can claim your child and the Child Tax Credit. You can not claim the Earned Income Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit which would give you a refund in excess of any withholding you may have. The Child Tax Credit can only reduce your tax due to zero. A Child Tax Credit is more like a deduction to reduce your computed tax. Since you have no income, your tax is zero and the child tax credit is unapplicable or does not apply.