Tax season is heavily circled on people's calendars. Refunds can help out with bills, saving for vacations or major life events — but more help for just raising the kiddos could be on the way. Spectrum News 1 takes a look with a family into the potential bumps to the child tax credit.

"So a lot of people's question is about the things that they hear; there's things on the news," said Tim Eliason, a senior tax advisor for Getter Tax out of Western New York.

In this case we'll dive into what so many are asking about with Jennifer Eckwahl as she gets taxes prepared for the family.

After the basics, standard W-2 information, CPA Tim Eliason goes into what else he can find for a potential return — questions asked and answered every step of the way. 

"It's really trying to get people to understand how their taxes work," said Eliason.

As a mother and a professional, Eckwahl more than understands that.

"You know, to be honest, I'd heard a little bit about it, mostly online through the internet, but I didn't know the specifics of it," she said. "So coming into a tax office and having someone explain it to me and exactly what the difference is between last year and this year, it's incredibly helpful."

So we continue with the filing and that credit. 

"Thomas, you're worth $2,000 on mom and dad's return, all right? Sound good? Are you earning your $2,000 at home doing your chores?" Eliason joked with Eckwahl's son in the office.

There are a couple of parts but primarily, this is what you're looking at per child. We'll let Tim explain.

"So after we calculate your tax based on your taxable income, if we have a number of $5,000 when we have a child credit, that's $2,000 that comes off it," Eliason went on to explain. "So then you only owed $3,000 in tax. If somebody has a tax balance that’s zero, then they're withholding and then the balance of the child tax credit, the $2,000 flows down into the refund. Well, as it stands right now, that flow from not having a tax bill comes down at $1,600 when they're talking about it coming down at $1,800, then going to $1,900, then going to $2,000. It just it puts more money in the pocket of the families."

It's important to note that potentially getting more financial support out to families isn't just free money. 

"We saw it during the pandemic with the whole stimulus, is that creating inflation?" Eliason poised. "Is that, you know, hurting the purchasing power of the dollar? Does that mean that everybody's refund, even though it's bigger, doesn't buy as much as they used to because of the things with the deficit and what the cost of money is and inflation."

The tax funds will come from somewhere, but that's why Congress continues to debate this and other tax changes, and especially in a major election cycle.

"I think it's important to do your own research and knowledge about what's going to be happening in the next tax year coming up," said Eckwahl. "Different, you know, different credits, different ways that things are changing. But also to going to somebody who is able to walk you through it to make sure that you're doing it correctly, I think is very important."

For now, the Eckwahls are set and if something changes definitively with the child tax credit, Tim will let them know and we'll keep you up to speed.