Child Tax Credit | Minnesota Department of Revenue

Minnesota Child Tax Credit

The Minnesota Child Tax Credit is a refundable state income-tax credit for families with qualifying children. The Minnesota Department of Revenue says an eligible filer may receive up to $1,750 per qualifying child, with no limit on the number of children claimed. Because the credit is refundable, a family may receive a refund even when it does not owe Minnesota income tax.

This is not a stand-alone grant application or a monthly benefit application. The claim is made through a Minnesota Individual Income Tax Return. The Department’s official page currently publishes the rules and forms for 2025 Minnesota returns. Most people were required to file that return by April 15, 2026. The Department also says a taxpayer who cannot complete the return on time may file by October 15, 2026 to avoid a late-filing penalty. That later filing route is why this page uses a rolling deadline: late eligible claims are still being accepted during the published filing period. Rolling does not mean that every payment or tax balance can be delayed without consequences. Tax owed was still due by the regular due date, and late filing can affect the option to receive advance payments.

The Department has also published information about advance payments of the following year’s credit. A taxpayer who made the required election on a timely return may receive part of the 2026 Child Tax Credit in advance and claim the remainder on the 2026 return. The advance-payment choice is separate from the underlying credit. Someone who files after the regular due date may still claim the credit through the return, but the Department says they cannot elect advance payments after the Individual Income Tax return due date.

At a glance

What the credit pays

The headline amount is up to $1,750 per qualifying child. “Up to” matters. The Department calculates the actual amount using the taxpayer’s income and number of qualifying children, and the credit gradually phases out as income rises. The amount is not a flat payment that every parent receives automatically.

The official Child Tax Credit page says the phaseout begins when income is over $31,950, or $37,910 for married couples filing jointly. It also publishes income thresholds based on the number of qualifying children. For one qualifying child, the page lists $55,649 for married couples filing jointly and $49,689 for non-married filers. For two children, the listed thresholds are $70,232 and $64,272; for three, $84,815 and $78,855; and for four, $99,399 and $93,439. The table continues for larger families, adding $14,583 for each additional qualifying child after nine.

Those published thresholds assume at least $9,480 of earned income. The Department warns that the threshold is slightly lower for filers with less earned income. Because the phaseout and the child-count table work together, a single household-income number cannot predict every family’s credit. Use the current Schedule M1CWFC instructions or tax software to calculate the actual amount for the return being filed.

The Department’s current table varies by number of qualifying children and filing status, so a single household-income figure should not be used as a universal eligibility cutoff. Use the official table and the state schedule for the calculation.

Who can qualify

The Department tells taxpayers to complete Schedule M1DQC, Dependents and Qualifying Children, to determine whether a child is a qualifying child. They then use Schedule M1CWFC, Minnesota Child and Working Family Credits, to determine the credit amount. The qualifying-child test is based generally on the federal Earned Income Tax Credit definition.

The child must generally be the filer’s son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, or a descendant of one of those relatives. The child must have a Social Security number, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number issued by the return due date, including extensions. The official instructions also require the federal-style age, relationship, residency, and joint-return tests, and say that only one person may claim the child as a qualifying child.

For the Minnesota Child Tax Credit, a child generally must be under age 18 at the end of the tax year. The instructions include a separate path for a child who is permanently and totally disabled. A child over age 17 may instead fit Minnesota’s separate credit for qualifying older children if the additional student or age rules are met; that is not the same as treating every older child as eligible for the Child Tax Credit.

The residency rule is more precise than simply living in the same state at some point. The child must have lived with the filer for more than half of the tax year, subject to official exceptions such as temporary absences, birth, death, kidnapping, adoption, or foster placement. The M1DQC instructions say a taxpayer cannot claim the Minnesota Child Tax Credit for a child who lived with them less than half the year merely because the taxpayer paid most of the child’s expenses. Shared-custody households should count the months carefully and determine which taxpayer can claim the child under the qualifying-child rules.

The Department lists three additional disqualifiers. A filer is not eligible if they were a full-year nonresident, if the IRS has banned them from claiming the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, or if they are another person’s dependent or qualifying child. Part-year residents are treated differently: the Department says they may qualify even if they moved into or out of Minnesota during the year, but they must adjust the credit based on the percentage of income taxable to Minnesota and complete Schedule M1NR with the Schedule M1CWFC worksheet.

Minnesota military members whose home of record is Minnesota are considered residents for tax purposes. If they meet the other requirements, the Department says they may claim both the federal EITC and the Minnesota Child Tax Credit, and may include nontaxable combat-zone pay as earned income when calculating the credits.

How to claim it

There is no separate Minnesota Child Tax Credit application portal. Claim the credit as part of the state tax filing process:

1. Determine the return year. The Department’s currently published materials describe the 2025 Minnesota return. Do not combine a child’s information, income, or forms from a different tax year with this return.
2. Gather the federal return information. Minnesota’s instructions say dependents claimed on the Minnesota return should match the dependents claimed on the federal Form 1040 or 1040-SR. Have the federal return and income records available before completing the Minnesota schedules.
3. Complete Form M1. File the Minnesota Individual Income Tax Return using the filing status from the federal return. You can file electronically, work with a professional preparer, or print and mail the forms.
4. Complete Schedule M1DQC. List each dependent and qualifying child, including the child’s name, identification number, date of birth, relationship, and the number of months the child lived with you. Mark the qualifying-child boxes only after checking the age, relationship, identification-number, residency, and joint-return requirements.
5. Complete Schedule M1CWFC. Use this schedule to calculate the Child Tax Credit and the other Minnesota Child and Working Family Credits. The schedule, rather than the headline amount, determines the credit for the specific return.
6. Include Schedule M1REF. The refundable-credit schedule includes the Child and Working Family Credits line and identifies the number of qualifying children. The Department’s instructions say to include Schedules M1DQC and M1CWFC with the Minnesota return.
7. Choose a filing method and keep proof. E-filing is available through approved software, and paper filing is available by mail. Save the accepted e-file confirmation or a complete copy of the mailed return and schedules.

If you are filing after April 15, the Department’s filing-after-the-due-date guidance says to file as soon as possible. The state automatically allows filing through October 15 before charging a late-filing penalty, but it does not extend the date for paying tax owed. Filing after the regular due date also means you cannot elect advance payments of the Child Tax Credit for the following year. A late filer should therefore distinguish between claiming the current credit and requesting future advance payments.

Documents to prepare

The exact documents depend on the family, but a careful file usually includes:

• Federal Form 1040 or 1040-SR and the income records used to prepare it.
• Form M1 and the current Minnesota schedules required by the return software or paper instructions.
• Each child’s SSN, ITIN, or ATIN information, entered exactly as issued.
• Dates of birth and relationship information for every dependent and qualifying child.
• A reliable count of the months each child lived with you. School, child-care, medical, custody, adoption, foster-placement, or address records may help if the residency question is complicated.
• W-2, 1099, self-employment, and other earned-income records needed for the credit calculation.
• Part-year residents’ Minnesota income information and the records needed for Schedule M1NR.
• The Department’s January notice or payment records if advance Child Tax Credit payments were received and must be reconciled on the next return.

Do not attach documents that the Department does not request simply to make the packet look substantial. The useful preparation is accurate identification, a defensible residency count, complete income reporting, and the correct schedules for the return year.

Common mistakes

Using Schedule M1C instead of the current child-credit schedules. The current Department page names Schedule M1DQC for qualifying-child information and Schedule M1CWFC for the credit calculation. Schedule M1C is not the schedule identified for this credit.

Assuming a refundable credit requires tax owed. Refundability is the reason a family with little or no Minnesota tax liability may still receive money. File the return if you qualify for the credit, even if the normal filing threshold would otherwise leave you unsure whether a return is necessary.

Treating the maximum as guaranteed. $1,750 is the maximum per qualifying child, not an automatic amount. Income, earned income, filing status, child count, residency, and other credit rules affect the result.

Using the wrong income cutoff. The current Department table varies by child count and filing status. Check the official table and worksheet instead of copying a single cutoff from an older summary.

Counting a child’s expenses instead of months lived together. Paying support does not replace the more-than-half-the-year residency test. Check the official exceptions if the child was born, died, adopted, placed in foster care, kidnapped, or temporarily absent.

Electing advance payments without understanding the next return. The advance-payment choice is made on the return and does not carry over automatically. If advance payments are received, the Department says the taxpayer must file the following Minnesota return and reconcile the payments.

Current status and official route

The Minnesota Child Tax Credit is an active state tax credit, not a closed grant round. The Department’s published 2025-return due date has passed, but its official filing guidance still accepts late returns through October 15, 2026 before a late-filing penalty applies. That is a filing window, not a promise that every late return avoids interest or payment penalties. Pay tax owed according to the Department’s due-date rules and file the credit claim as soon as the records are ready.

The official Child Tax Credit page does not publish a separate 2026-tax-year credit amount or a new filing deadline for a later return year. The Department does describe advance payments for the 2026 credit, but the amount for an individual taxpayer still depends on the return information and the applicable schedule. This page therefore reports the verified published rules and does not invent a future amount or deadline.

Start with the Minnesota Department of Revenue Child Tax Credit page. From there, use the linked Schedule M1DQC and Schedule M1CWFC materials, the Department’s income-tax due-date page, and the filing method that fits your return. If a custody, residency, identification-number, or prior-payment issue makes the claim unclear, use a qualified tax professional or contact Minnesota Revenue before filing.