child tax credit

At tax time, being a parent comes with certain perks: the Child Tax Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Credit, a bigger Earned Income Tax Credit, among others. But while single parents have many of the same breaks as married parents, there are some they miss out on.

Lawmakers have gotten in the habit of waiting until the last minute to extend many tax breaks, but last year, they ran out of time. Now, unless Congress acts soon, millions of Americans are face changes that could leave them sending thousands of dollars a year more to the IRS.

Thanks to confusing and often misunderstood rules surrounding child-care tax breaks, the author has overpaid Uncle Sam to the tune of $1,000, missing out on $200 in tax savings each year for the past half-decade. Read on to avoid her mistake -- unless you enjoy filing mounds of amended returns.

In the complicated, confusing, and confounding world of taxes, we citizens have a little-known ally within the IRS: the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olson. Olson welcomes your thoughts via a suggestion box on tax reform. So far, she's received roughly 1,500 submissions, and she's still asking for more.

Tax credits are popular ways to reduce your overall tax burden. Credits are dollar for dollar reductions in the amount of tax due, so it's a pretty big bang for your buck. Here are five of the most common tax credits: 1. Credit for Child and Dependent Care Expenses. The credit for child and...

If it seems like tax laws are changing every time you time around, it's not your imagination. Over the past eight years, changes to the Tax Code have been made at a rate of more than one a day. According to the office of the National Taxpayer Advocate, there were 500 changes in 2008 alone, many of...

Taxpayers can receive a credit toward their taxes for each qualifying child. Tax credits are very advantageous to taxpayers because they represent a direct reduction in the tax dollars to be paid. For 2007, the maximum credit per child is $1,000. A credit is only given for a qualifying child, and...