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| - We found no evidence of such a post on TruthSocial or X. Trump has said he would expand the child tax credit during his second term in office.
As U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, a pervasive rumor on Instagram and YouTube claimed he posted about child tax credits on social media. One alleged post, purportedly from Jan. 17, 2025, claimed that women who receive money in child support from men would no longer be able to claim the child as a dependent on their taxes, and thus would not receive a federal child tax credit.
Snopes received numerous questions from readers, asking us about a purported new "Trump child support law." A video claimed the following:
Trump just tweeted if you put your baby father on child support, you can't claim income taxes — only he can. [...] When you put your baby father on child support, you no longer can claim your child — only the father can [...] only one of y'all can claim your child. If he's paying child support, you can't claim the kids — only he can.
Another video from Jan. 17, 2025, claimed Trump had tweeted that morning that any woman who put her "baby daddy" or "ex-husband" on child support had automatically lost rights to tax-return funds and child tax credits.
However, we looked through Trump's official X and TruthSocial accounts on Jan. 17 and other dates, and found no evidence of him ever posting such a rule. If such a rule ever went into place, it would apply to any parent paying child support — and not just the father — and would also not be enforced in 2025. As such, we rate this claim as false.
The above claims offered no screenshot, link or any other evidence of Trump saying such a thing. We first searched through Trump's X account and found no evidence in mid-January of any recent tweets touting this rule about child tax credits. We also went to his TruthSocial page and found no posts about the same issue.
According to Cornell Law School, child support is "the sum that the noncustodial parent must pay to the custodian. This sum serves as a parental contribution for the child's basic living expenses, such as food, clothing, shelter, health care, and education." This kind of payment applies to parents or guardians who are separated and in which one of them is the primary custodian of the child.
Current (2024) IRS rules for claiming child tax credits allow families with children under the age of 17 at the end of the tax year to claim these children as their dependents and thus get a tax break.
For divorced or separated parents, rules for child tax credits are a bit more complex. According to the IRS, "Child support payments are not tax deductible by the payer and they are not taxable income to the recipient. Paying child support does not necessarily entitle you to a dependency exemption."
However, noncustodial parents paying child support can claim a child tax credit if they meet all of the following requirements, according to the IRS:
1. The parents:
a. are divorced or legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance,
b. are separated under a written separation agreement, or
c. lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the year, whether or not they are or were married.
2. The child received over half of his or her support for the year from the parents.
3. The child is in the custody of one or both parents for more than half of the year.
4. The noncustodial parent attaches a Form 8332, or similar statement containing the same information required by the form, to his or her return. The form must be signed by the custodial parent.
A "qualifying child" is defined by the IRS as an individual:
A) who bears a relationship to the taxpayer described in paragraph (2) [which is a child of the taxpayer or a descendant of such a child, or a brother, sister, stepbrother, or stepsister of the taxpayer or a descendant of any such relative.]
B) who has the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of such taxable year, who meets the age requirements of paragraph (3) [which is someone who has not attained the age of 19 as of the close of the calendar year in which the taxable year of the taxpayer begins OR a student who has not attained the age of 24]
C) who has not provided over one-half of such individual's own support for the calendar year in which the taxable year of the taxpayer begins, and
D) who has not filed a joint return (other than only for a claim of refund) with the individual's spouse under section 6013 for the taxable year beginning in the calendar year in which the taxable year of the taxpayer begins.
Snopes spoke to law Professor Nyamagaga Gondwe at the University of Wisconsin, who clarified that even if the alleged child tax rule were put in place, it would not apply in 2025: "This tax season we will still be following the rules from last year [2024], and if the rule did change it wouldn't be in effect till next year."
Trump has also not said anything in his policy proposals about such a rule. Ahead of taking office, he said he would expand child tax credits, and in his previous administration, he doubled the amount of child tax credit available to parents. In November 2024, he said, "To lift up American families, I will protect and expand the child tax credit we created. We created it."
U.S. Vice President Vance also proposed a broadly available $5,000 child tax credit, but the campaign did not confirm support for the idea. Currently the maximum child tax credit is $2,000 until the end of 2025.
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