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The child tax credit reduces your tax. If you have children, you may be able to take a child tax credit on your tax return for each of your qualifying children.

<Caution> The child tax credit is not the same as the credit for child and dependent care expenses. See Publication 503 for more information on the credit for child and dependent care expenses.

1) Under age 17 at the end of 2002.

2) A citizen or resident alien of the United States.

3) Claimed as your dependent.

4) Your:

a) Son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, or adopted child (or a descendant of your son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, or adopted child—for example, your grandchild),

b) Brother, sister, stepbrother, or stepsister (or the child or grandchild of your brother, sister, stepbrother, or stepsister) if you care for the individual as you would your own child, or

c) Eligible foster child.

1) The amount on line 44 (Form 1040) or line 28 (Form 1040A) is less than the credit. If the amount is zero, you cannot take this credit because there is no tax to reduce. However, you may be able to take the additional child tax credit. See Additional Child Tax Credit, later.

2) Your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) is more than the amount shown below for your filing status.

• Married filing jointly — $110,000

• Single, head of household, or qualifying widow(er) — $75,000

• Married filing separately — $55,000

• Any amount excluded from income because of the exclusion of income from Puerto Rico.

• Any amount on lines 43 and 48 of Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income.

• Any amount on line 18 of Form 2555–EZ, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.

• Any amount on line 15 of Form 4563, Exclusion of Income for Bona Fide Residents of American Samoa.

• Any amount excluded from income because of the exclusion of income from Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands.

1) Make sure you figured the amount, if any, of your child tax credit. See Claiming the Credit, earlier.

2) Use Form 8812, Additional Child Tax Credit, to see if you can take the additional child tax credit only if you answered Yes on line 4 or line 5 of the Child Tax Credit Worksheet.

3) If you have an additional child tax credit on line 13 of Form 8812, carry it to line 66 (Form 1040) or line 42 (Form 1040A).

Above Information Extracted from IRS Publication #3, Armed Forces Tax Guide