09/16/2026
If your child turns 17 at any point in 2026, one federal rule is worth knowing before filing season.
The Child Tax Credit requires the child to be under 17 on the last day of the tax year.
So a child who is 17 on December 31, 2026, does not qualify for the 2026 Child Tax Credit. Not a reduced version. None of it.
That holds even if they are still in high school, still living at home, still supported by you, and still claimed as your dependent.
For 2026 the maximum Child Tax Credit is $2,200 per qualifying child, with up to $1,700 refundable through the Additional Child Tax Credit if you meet the earned-income and other rules. Those figures are unchanged from 2025, because inflation indexing rounds to the nearest $100.
Here is the part that gets missed in both directions.
Losing the Child Tax Credit does not mean losing the dependent.
A child too old for the CTC may still qualify you for the Credit for Other Dependents, which is up to $500. That credit also covers college-age dependents, which is why it keeps mattering for several more years.
So the practical shift looks like this.
Age 16 at year-end: potentially up to $2,200.
Age 17 at year-end: no Child Tax Credit, potentially up to $500 instead.
I would not call that a $1,700 tax increase. Your actual result depends on your income, your tax liability, and whether you qualified for the full credit in the first place. Plenty of households never received the maximum.
The credit also phases out above $200,000 of modified AGI for most filers, or $400,000 for joint filers.
If you have a 16- or 17-year-old at home, this is one number to account for before you estimate your 2026 refund.
Do you have a child aging out of this credit?
