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The Child Tax Credit is an important tax credit that may save you up to $1,000 for each eligible qualifying child. Be sure you qualify before you claim it. Here are five useful facts from the IRS on the Child Tax Credit: 1. Qualifications. For the Child Tax Credit, a qualify- ing child must pass several tests: Age. The child must have been under age 17 at the end of 2015. Relationship. The child must be your son, daugh- ter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, or half sister. The child may be a descendant of any of these individuals. A qualifying child could also include your grand- child, niece or nephew. You would always treat an ad- opted child as your own child. An adopted child includes a child lawfully placed with you for legal adoption. Support. The child must have not provided more than half of their own sup- port for the year. Dependent. The child must be a dependent that you claim on your federal tax return. Joint return. The child cannot file a joint return for the year, unless the only reason they are filing is to claim a refund. Citizenship. The child must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national or a U.S. resi- dent alien. Residence. In most cases, the child must have lived with you for more than half of 2015. 2. Limitations. The Child Tax Credit is subject to in- come limitations. The lim- its may reduce or eliminate your credit depending on your filing status and in- come. 3. Additional Child Tax Credit. If you qual- ify and get less than the full Child Tax Credit, you could receive a re- fund even if you owe no tax with the Additional Child Tax Credit. 4. Schedule 8812. If you qualify to claim the Child Tax Credit, make sure to check if you must com- plete and attach Sched- ule 8812, Child Tax Credit, with your tax return. For example, if you claim a credit for a child with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, you must complete Part I of Schedule 8812. If you qualify to claim the Addi- tional Child Tax Credit, you must complete and attach Schedule 8812. You can visit IRS.gov to view, download or print IRS tax forms any- time. 5. IRS E-file. The easi- est way to claim the Child Tax Credit is with IRS E- file. This system is safe, accurate and easy to use. You can also use IRS Free Fileto prepare and e-file your taxes for free. Go to IRS.gov/filing to learn more. Each and every tax- payer has a set of funda- mental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. These are your Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them on IRS. gov. TAXTIPS Things you should know about the Child Tax Credit Over the years I've re- ceived thousands of money-saving tips from readers — many of which I've shared in books, news- letters and this column. I haven't shared plenty of other tips for a variety of reasons, but mostly be- cause I've found they don't work. Some don't work so much that they actually end up costing time and money, not saving! One of those useless tips still makes me laugh. It goes like this: Start with two empty toilet paper tubes and one new roll of two-ply toilet paper. Carefully separate the two layers of toilet pa- per, re-rolling each of the layers onto an empty tube to create — ta-da! — two rolls of toilet paper for the price of one. Not only does this take an unbelievable amount time (unless you own a toi- let tissue rolling machine of some kind); but doing so results in a ginormous mess of toilet paper that is so thin it takes at least twice as many squares to get the job done. Don't do that, OK? NO STANDARDIZA- TION. Comparing the prices of toilet paper can be confusing because no two rolls or packages are alike — there are no set standards for toilet paper (and I'm not suggesting there should be). We can't compare roll-for-roll be- cause roll sizes vary from one manufacturer to an- other. Companies offer double rolls, jumbo rolls or even 1000-sheet rolls. What's more, there is no standardized size for a sheet. And to make things even more confusing, rolls vary in layers between sin- gle-ply and 2-ply. UNIT PRICING. The price per square foot for thick (two-ply) or thin (one-ply) toilet paper is the most reliable method for comparing prices. Most manufacturers list both of these measurements on the product label. You may have to search for it, but you should be able to find this information. DO THE MATH. So you thought all those math classes you took in school were for naught? They're finally about to pay off. The goal is to discover the price, per square foot, of the products you're com- paring. Do this by dividing the price of the product by the number of square feet in each roll. If the product la- bel shows the number of square feet contained therein, you're in luck. Do the math. If the label shows how many square inches of product are con- tained in the package, con- vert that number to square feet by multiplying by 144; then divide that number into the price. If the store's shelf label reveals the price per 100 square feet, divide that price by 100 to get the price of one square foot. EXAMPLE. As I write, a 30-roll pack of Costco's Kirkland brand two-ply toilet paper contains a to- tal of 1,594 square feet of paper for $15.99, or one cent per square foot. Right next to that is the 30-roll package of Charmin two- ply, containing 865 square feet of paper for $21.99, or 2.5 cents per square foot. It's no-brainer which is cheaper: At 1 penny per square foot versus 2.5 pen- nies per square foot, the Kirkland brand wins big. Now that you know how to compare prices of toi- let paper, it's easy to know which toilet paper is the best deal on any given day. The ply and number of rolls don't matter — the price per square foot is the only number you need. IT'S NOT ALL MATH. Author Linda Wright has found a way to turn one of life's necessities to an art form. Her book "Toilet Pa- per Origami on a Roll" is one of my favorites. It's a step-by-step guide to fold- ing toilet paper into beau- tiful flourishes, such as a bow, an elegant swan and so much more. I haven't mastered this delightful art form yet, but I'm work- ing on it. EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE Howtocalculateandcomparetoiletpaper Mary Hunt The public is invited to attend the 19th annual Te- hama County CattleWom- en's Beef Ambassador Con- test on Sunday, March 20, where both a Junior and a Senior Beef Ambassador will be selected for 2016. The event will be held at the Tehama County Farm Bureau office, 275 Sale Lane, Red Bluff. The public part of the contest begins at 5 p.m. with each contestant an- swering consumer ques- tions about beef products and the cattle industry. Prior to the public meet- ing, the contestants will arrive at noon to meet with judges for a personal and media interview and to write a response to a current beef industry is- sue. Seeking the 2016 Se- nior Beef Ambassador ti- tle are Clara DeLong and Amber O'Connor of Corn- ing and Danielle Muel- ler and Mahlon Owens of Red Bluff. Trying out to represent the beef indus- try as Junior Ambassador are Kayla McGiffin, Emyli Palmer from Red Bluff and Emma Peterson from Los Molinos. All of the contestants have an agricultural back- ground. Their assorted experi- ences includes FFA and 4-H membership, raising and selling beef cattle, liv- ing on a self sustaining ranch and growing up as a part of a long time ranch- ing family. They all express a de- sire to learn more about the beef industry through the Ambassador pro- gram. Beef Ambassador Chair- man Kari Dodd says that the winning ambassadors will receive training to rep- resent the beef industry prior to traveling to San Jose in April to compete for California Beef Am- bassador titles. The Beef Ambassadors will receive scholarships at the end of their term. The Beef Ambassadors will address issues about the cattle business in schools and in the commu- nity. They will also repre- sent the cattle industry at Farm Day, Education Day, the CattleWomen's annual luncheon and fashion show and the Cattlemen's winter dinner. During 2015, two Ju- nior Beef Ambassadors represented the cattle in- dustry. The team was made up of Emyli Palmer and Kayla McGiffin. Dan- ielle Mueller was the Se- nior Beef Ambassador. All three 2015 Ambassa- dors enjoyed their term as Ambassador so much that they are back to compete for another term. BEEF Te ha ma C ou nt y Ca tt le wo me n to select Beef Ambassadors COURTESYPHOTO Tehama County Beef Ambassadors for 2015(from le ): Emyli Palmer, Kayla McGiffin and Danielle Mueller. PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Regular Haircut $ 2 00 off KWIK KUTS FamilyHairSalon 1064SouthMainSt.,RedBluff•529-3540 ANY RETAIL PRODUCT 20 % off withanychemicalserviceof $50 or more Notgoodwithotheroffers Expires 3/31/16 With coupon Reg. $13.95 365-7194or365-4322 OPEN 7 DAYS 6am-10pm 8080 AIRPORT ROAD Your full service: Meat Department, Deli & Groceries www.kentsmeats.com On-site HARVESTING CUTTING & CRYOVACING LIFESTYLES » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, March 10, 2016 » MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4