One Big Beautiful Bill (OB3) Child Tax Credit (CTC) changes

This change is permanent, effective for 2025.

Both the child and the taxpayer(s) must have valid SSNs.

The CTC increases to $2,200 per child, with a maximum refundable portion of $1,400.  Both of these amounts are indexed for inflation after 2025.

A credit offsets tax, whereas a deduction offsets taxable income.  A credit is much more valuable than a deduction.

For example: A $1,000 credit reduces your tax bill by $1,000.  If you are in a 12% tax bracket, a $1,000 deduction will reduce taxable income by $1,000, which means your tax bill is reduced by $120.  In this example, the credit is roughly 8x more valuable than the deduction of the same dollar amount.