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It's not something you "receive"...
It just influences the bottom line on your tax form by reducing your tax liability.
As an example:
1. Suppose your tax form, without the tax credit, showed that your total tax liability was $12,000. If you did not have any tax withheld from your paycheck, you would have to pay that amount on April 15. However, with the $10,000 tax credit, you would owe only $2,000.
2. Suppose your tax form, without the tax credit, showed that your total tax liability was $12,000. You had the full $12,000 withheld from your paychecks during the year. Normally, you would simply owe no tax and receive no refund. However, with the tax credit, your total tax liability would be only $2,000, so you would receive a refund of the $10,000 that you overpaid.
3. Suppose your tax form, without the tax credit, showed that your total tax liability was $5,000. You had $6,000 withheld from your paychecks. Normally, you would get a refund of $1,000. With the tax credit, your tax liability that year would be zero, so you would get a refund of the $6,000 that was withheld. In addition, since you only used $5,000 of your tax credit, you could apply that next year to reduce your taxes again.
Sharon
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