What could be the next-to-last round of child tax credit payments could arrive on Monday, reports say.
According to the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, more than $15 billion was already sent to families of roughly 61 million children.
Eligible households have received a total of more than $61 billion since the first monthly payment in July. Most parents automatically get the enhanced credit of up to $300 for each child up to age 6 and $250 for each one ages 6 through 17.
Read more: Stimulus Update: Child Tax Credit Is Commonly Used for Basic Needs by 91% of Low-Income Families
The IRS is scheduled to send two more monthly payments in 2021, but the agency has also had trouble getting the funds to some households, particularly poorer families — even though it has made multiple efforts to connect with them and set up a portal so they can provide the information needed to receive the credit.
Among those impacted were primarily families who recently made an update on their bank accounts or addresses on the IRS portal and affected payments to married couples filing jointly where only one spouse made an update.
CNN reports, created by the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package in March, the full enhanced credit is available for heads of households earning up to $112,500 a year and joint filers making up to $150,000, after which it begins to phase out.
For many families, the credit then plateaus at $2,000 per child and starts to phase out for single parents earning more than $200,000 or for married couples with incomes above $400,000.
More low-income parents are eligible for the child tax credit because the relief package made it fully refundable.
It had been only partially refundable — leaving more than 26 million children unable to get the full credit because their families’ incomes were too low, according to Treasury Department estimates.
Eligible families can receive a total of up to $3,600 for each child under age 6 and up to $3,000 for each one ages 6 through 17 for 2021. That’s an increase from the regular child tax credit of up to $2,000 for each child up to age 17.
Parents will receive half their credit on a monthly basis through the rest of the year. The final payment is set to be distributed on December 15.
They can claim the other half when they file their 2021 taxes next year.
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