What this line means
The income threshold at which your child tax credit begins to phase out. The threshold depends on your filing status: $400,000 for married filing jointly, $200,000 for all other filing statuses (single, head of household, married filing separately, qualifying surviving spouse). If your modified AGI from line 4 is at or below this threshold, you get the full credit with no phaseout reduction.
Does this apply to you?
- Every filer claiming the child tax credit or credit for other dependents enters this threshold
- You look up the amount based on your filing status from the Schedule 8812 instructions
Easy to overlook
The threshold is unusually high compared to other credits The $200,000/$400,000 thresholds mean most families get the full child tax credit with no reduction. Unlike the earned income credit or education credits, which phase out at much lower incomes, the CTC remains available to upper-middle-income households. A married couple earning $350,000 still gets the full $2,200 per child. 1 IRC Section 24(b) — phaseout thresholds
These thresholds are not indexed for inflation The $200,000 and $400,000 amounts were set by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and do not adjust annually for inflation. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made these thresholds permanent law — they are no longer subject to the TCJA sunset that was scheduled for 2026. Over time, more families will cross these thresholds as nominal wages rise, but for 2025, the amounts remain unchanged from 2018. 2 IRS Schedule 8812 instructions — filing status threshold table
Watch out for this
Using the wrong threshold for your filing status. Head of household filers sometimes assume they get the $400,000 married threshold because they have dependents. The $400,000 threshold applies only to married filing jointly. Head of household, single, and married filing separately all use the $200,000 threshold.
Footnotes
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IRC Section 24(b), Phaseout Thresholds. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/24 ↩
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IRS Schedule 8812 Instructions, Filing Status Threshold Table. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040s8 ↩