Families eligible for monthly payments under the Biden Administration’s “Child Tax Credit” (CTC) extension will receive a second letter in the coming days from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) confirming that they are eligible for advance checks beginning July 15 as a result of the passage of the “American Bailout Plan.”
The snail-mail missives will be sent to eligible families who filed a 2019 or 2020 federal income tax return or used the Non-Filers tool on IRS.gov to sign up for an Economic Impact Payment or stimulus check.
“The letters will confirm their eligibility, the amount of payments they will receive and that payments begin July 15. Families who receive these letters do not need to take any action. The personalized letters follow up on the Child Tax Credit advance payment disclosure letter sent in early and mid-June to each family who appeared to qualify for advance payments,” the agency detailed in a press release this week on its website.
About three weeks ago, the IRS reported sending about 36 million letters to households informing them of their eligibility for the back-to-back payments.
As part of the notice, the agency urged people who want to receive a single payment as a refund in the upcoming tax season to cancel enrollment for advance payments under the CTC through the agency’s website.
“Non-filers Sign-up” for low-income families to apply for IRS payments.
Eligible families who have not received postal communication from the IRS will most likely need to submit their personal and dependent data to the agency through the “Non-filers Sign-up” tool. In many cases, this is a parent or parents who are not required to file a low-income tax return, so the IRS does not have the information needed to process the mailings.
Using the online service, these individuals can apply to receive the payments.
“This tool, an update to last year’s IRS Non-Filers tool, is also designed to help eligible individuals who do not normally file tax returns sign up for the third round of $1,400 economic impact payments (also known as stimulus checks) and claim the Refund Recovery Credit for any amounts from the first two rounds of economic impact payments they did not receive,” the IRS said.
The IRS’s first installment under this year’s credit extension provides up to $3,600 for each child in the household.
The checks will range from $250 to $300 per month for each eligible child up to age 17 and will depend on the income levels of the parent or parents, if filing jointly.
IRS will disburse 50% of the loan in advance as of July 15.
50% of the credit will be disbursed in advance between the months of July and December. The rest of the amount each family will have to apply for during the next tax season when filing their 2021 tax return.
Another initiative taken by the IRS to provide guidance on the credit and reach a greater number of recipients are the events in 12 cities that began last weekend and will last until July 10.
Also this week, the tax office reported that it has updated the Child Tax Credit Update Portal on IRS.gov for users to submit their information for direct deposit and receive advance payments via wire transfers into their bank accounts.