GREENSBORO, N.C. — The American Rescue Plan expanded the Child Tax Credit for 2021 and created a way for families to get advanced payments of the tax credit before filing their taxes in 2022.
Thursday, millions of taxpayers around the nation woke up to the first of six payments in their bank accounts. More than $15 billion nationwide was sent to bank accounts or will be delivered by check.
In North Carolina, that total included more than 1.1 million families getting a total of $476 million.
When you see them, the payments will contain IRS and CHILD CTC.
For example, this family got $550, $300 for their child under 6 years old, and $250 for their child over 6 and up to 17 years old.
If you didn't get a direct deposit and you qualify for a payment, the checks are in the mail.
The Child Tax Credit Update Portal allows you to:
- Check to see if you're eligible to receive payments
- Unenroll from the payments
- Provide updated information about your bank account information
To use the portal, you will need to sign in or create a new account with IDme. Be sure to have a photo ID ready.
NEED TO MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR ADDRESS INFORMATION?
The portal to do that is expected to be up by early August.
NEED TO UPDATE DEPENDENT, INCOME OR MARITAL STATUS?
The portal to do any of those things is expected by late summer.
When it's up and running and you put in your info, the IRS is expected to send you whatever payments you missed with the next upcoming payment.
WHAT PAYMENT CAN YOU EXPECT?
Parents will get $300 for each child under the age of 6
and $250 for each child ages 6 to 17 years old.
WHEN DO THE PAYMENTS COME?
The advance payments on the Child Tax Credit will be made once a month through December. Each of the due dates is the 15th of the month except for August when the 15th falls on a weekend. That payment will be made on Aug. 13.
WILL THIS COUNT AGAINST ME AT TAX TIME?
Yes and no. This is not income that you will be taxed on, so no, it doesn’t count against you.
This is half the total of the entire tax credit that you claim on your 2021 taxes in 2022. If you like to get all of the tax credit at one time, you’ll want to unenroll in this payment program.
OPT-OUT OR UNENROLL
To opt-out or unenroll, you need to go to the IRS website. You only need to unenroll one time for it to be effective. You can also choose to get some payments and unenroll from the rest. There is a timeline for unenroll deadlines for each payment.
If you opt-out or unenroll, you will claim the full credit during tax time.
To unenroll or opt-out, you use the Child Tax Credit Update Portal.