Expanded Child Tax Credit Checks Landing in Parent’s Accounts Today

by mcardinal

Justin Bullock, FISM News

 

Parents across the country should keep an eye on their bank accounts as the first payment in the expanded child tax credit is scheduled to go out on Thursday. This tax credit payment was a part of the massive COVID-19 relief bill that was passed shortly after President Biden took office. Its stated purpose is to assist families with children by providing a small monthly stipend which is based on the number of children a couple has, as well as their combined annual income.

The checks will come on the 15th of each month from July 15 through December 15. After that there will be one more large payment sometime in April 2022. Parents are eligible for up to a $300 monthly payment per child five years old and younger, and up to a $250 monthly payment per child aged six to seventeen. The payment in April 2022 will be up to $1,800.00 per child five or younger and $1,500.00 per child from six to seventeen. How much parents will actually qualify for will depend on their annual income.

Parents will also have the option of deferring the payments, getting one large payment in April 2022 or foregoing the payments entirely and receiving a tax credit when they file taxes for 2021. Ultimately, parents will be taxed on any payments they receive as these payments are technically considered to be “advanced payments” with respect to future potential tax returns. For this reason it is largely expected that only those families with an immediate need for cash on hand will end up accepting the payments, and those families who expect to be able to get through the next six months will forego the payments in favor of a tax credit next year.

While there is no doubt some families are in need of these payments in order to make ends meet, there is strong criticism that a large amount of these payments amount to superfluous spending, unnecessarily increasing the national debt. Republican lawmakers had originally pushed for the tax credit to have been narrow in scope, focusing on those in a more narrow income bracket.

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