WASHINGTON, D.C. — If someone received child tax credit payments last year, they are likely eligible for more money if they file their taxes this year and if their income has not increased.
What You Need To Know
- The Biden Administration is urging families to file their taxes to receive the second half of their child tax credit payments
- The credit was expanded last year when President Joe Biden signed the coronavirus relief package into law
- Efforts to permanently expand the credit have stalled in Congress, but progressive Democrats held a press conference Tuesday to push for it
- Fans saw the team off Monday night and Tuesday morning
Monthly child tax credit payments started going out to families across the country last July, but they stopped at the end of the year.
Vice President Kamala Harris hosted an event Tuesday to remind everyone that there is more money available.
“If you are one of the more than 30 million families who have already received the child tax credit, you still need to file your taxes,” Harris said. “So that is the only way to receive the second half of what you are owed. So remember you are owed more, but you still need to file your taxes.”
The child tax credit was increased when President Joe Biden signed the coronavirus relief package into law last year.
More than 90% of American families qualified for it — receiving $3,600 for each child five and under; and $3,000 for every child between six and 17-years-old.
Filing taxes will unlock the second half of payments.
On Tuesday, a group of Democratic lawmakers held a press conference to call for the tax credit to be made permanent.
It’s currently set to expire after this round because Biden’s “Build Back Better Act” stalled in the U.S. Senate due to Republicans and two conservative Democrats opposing it.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) has concerns about keeping the expanded credit in place, but more progressive Democrats like Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said it’s helped decrease the child poverty rate.
“I have parts of my state that look just like parts of Sen. Manchin’s state. We continue to talk about this,” Brown said Tuesday. “He understands the importance of this to the great majority of families. I am still very optimistic because I know that he hears those stories as we hear those stories. And we know how important this is to kids.”
Negotiations currently remain stalled in the Senate.
The logjam also impacts the earned income tax credit, which was also expanded last year for 17 million workers who don’t have children. People can get the second round of those payments by filing your taxes too.