10 — Credit After Phaseout Updated for tax year 2025

What this line means

Your child tax credit after the income-based phaseout reduction. You subtract the phaseout amount on line 9 from the initial credit on line 6. If the phaseout reduction exceeds your initial credit, this line is zero — the credit cannot go negative. This is the maximum child tax credit portion before comparing to your tax liability.

Does this apply to you?

• You are calculating the child tax credit and have completed the phaseout computation
• Your modified AGI is above the phaseout threshold and you need to see what credit remains

Easy to overlook

A zero on this line does not mean zero total credit Even if the child tax credit phases out completely, you may still have a credit for other dependents on line 12. The phaseout reduces the CTC first. Filers who see zero here sometimes stop filling out the form, missing the other dependents credit they are still entitled to. ¹ [SOURCE: IRS Schedule 8812 instructions — line 10 computation]

Most filers have no phaseout reduction at all The $200,000/$400,000 thresholds are high enough that the vast majority of families see line 10 equal line 6. If your modified AGI is below the threshold, the phaseout is zero and the credit passes through in full. You still fill in this line — it just equals line 6. ² [SOURCE: IRC Section 24(b) — credit cannot be less than zero]

Watch out for this

Entering a negative number. If the phaseout reduction on line 9 exceeds the initial credit on line 6, you enter zero on line 10 — not a negative number. A negative entry would incorrectly reduce the credit for other dependents when the two credits are combined on line 13.

Related lines on your return

• Line 6 — Schedule 8812 — Initial credit amount; the starting point before phaseout
• Line 9 — Schedule 8812 — Phaseout reduction; subtracted from line 6
• Line 13 — Schedule 8812 — Total credits before limit; line 10 plus line 12