The ‘Credit for Other Dependents’: A Policy Explainer

The ‘Credit for Other Dependents’: A Policy Explainer

Before the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the federal Child Tax Credit had two elements that solely benefited families with dependent children under age 17: (1) a nonrefundable or basic credit; and (2) the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), which allowed a portion of the credit to be refundable. The nonrefundable CTC allowed a credit of $1,000 per qualifying child, but only up to the amount the family actually owed in income taxes. By contrast, the refundable ACTC provided families a cash refund up to certain limits (described more fully below) if the amount of the Child Tax Credit exceeded the amount owed in income taxes.

TCJA made several changes to the Child Tax Credit, including the introduction of a third component: the Credit for Other Dependents, a nonrefundable credit worth up to $500 for each dependent who is ineligible for the nonrefundable CTC and the ACTC. In this policy explainer, we refer to the totality of these three credits as the Child Tax Credit, and to each component as the nonrefundable CTC, the ACTC, and the ODC, respectively.

This policy explainer—the first in a new line of explainers on various social and economic policies—describes the ODC and provides estimates of who is eligible for it and of its reach. 

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Key Findings

  • The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created the Credit for Other Dependents (ODC), a nonrefundable tax credit worth up to $500 for each dependent ineligible for the nonrefundable Child Tax Credit and the refundable Additional Child Tax Credit.
  • Those eligible for the ODC include teenagers, young adults in school, and others over the age of 17 who may have a disability or other limitations where they cannot support themselves and are claimed as dependents at tax-time. 
  • We estimate that one-quarter of all dependents over age 17 who meet the qualifying criteria for the ODC are ineligible for the full credit because their family’s income is too low.

Suggested Citation:

Yera, Christopher, Sophie Collyer, Megan Curran, David Harris, and Christopher Wimer. 2025. The ‘Credit for Other Dependents’: A Policy Explainer. Poverty and Social Policy Brief, vol. 9, no. 1. New York: Center on Poverty and Social Policy, Columbia University.

Published on January 8, 2025