Child Tax Credit: Register for payments with new IRS tool

The Treasury Department has launched an online tool to help register those who do not normally file income tax returns but who are eligible for the enhanced Child Tax Credit.

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The Non-filer Sign-up tool will be available for families to register for the monthly Advance Child Tax Credit payments, scheduled to begin July 15, an IRS statement read.

According to the agency, the online tool can also help to register those who have not gotten the $1,400 third round of Economic Impact Payments (also known as stimulus checks) and to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit for any amount of the first two rounds of Economic Impact Payments they may have missed.

The tool is for people who did not file a tax return for 2019 or 2020 and who did not use the IRS Non-filers tool last year to register for Economic Impact Payment, the IRS said in a statement.

The tool is also meant for people who are eligible for the Child Tax Credit payments, but who don’t make enough income to have an income tax return filing obligation.

It will provide the IRS the basic information needed – name, address, and Social Security numbers – to compute and send out the Advance Child Tax Credit payments which will go out monthly through December.

“We have been working hard to begin delivering the monthly Advance Child Tax Credit to millions of families with children in July,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig.

“This new tool will help more people easily gain access to this important credit as well as help people who don’t normally file a tax return obtain an Economic Impact Payment. We encourage people to review the details about this important new effort,” Rettig said.

If you are eligible for the payment and have already filed or will soon file your 2019 or 2020 income tax return, you do not have to use this tool or contact the IRS in any way.

According to the agency, once the IRS processes the 2019 or 2020 tax return, the information will be used to determine eligibility and issue advance payments.

The IRS has created a special Advance Child Tax Credit 2021 page here to answer questions about the tax credit.

The page already features a link to the Non-filer Sign-up tool. In the next few weeks, it will also feature other useful new tools, including:

• An interactive Child Tax Credit eligibility assistant to help families determine whether they qualify for the Advance Child Tax Credit payments.
• Another tool, the Child Tax Credit Update Portal, will initially enable anyone who has been determined to be eligible for advance payments to see that they are eligible and unenroll/opt out of the advance payment program. Later, it will allow people to check on the status of their payments, make updates to their information and be available in Spanish.

The Internal Revenue Service sent letters to more than 36 million American families who may be eligible to receive monthly Child Tax Credit payments starting in July.

The letters are going to families who may be eligible based on information they included in either their 2019 or 2020 federal income tax return, or who used the Non-Filers tool on IRS.gov last year to register for an Economic Impact Payment, the IRS said on its website.

According to the agency, families who are eligible for the payments will receive a second, personalized letter listing an estimate of their monthly payment.

The payments will begin on July 15 with families receiving advance payments either by direct deposit or check. The payment will be up to $300 per month for each qualifying child under age 6, and up to $250 per month for each qualifying child ages 6 to 17.

Those payments will be up to 50% of the Child Tax Credit.

Eligible taxpayers who do not want to receive the advance payment of the 2021 Child Tax Credit will have the opportunity to decline those payments and take the full tax credit on their 2021 income tax return.

The American Rescue Plan Act raised the maximum Child Tax Credit in 2021 to $3,600 for qualifying children under the age of 6, and to $3,000 per child for qualifying children between ages 6 and 17.

The new maximum credit is available to taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income (AGI) of:

• $75,000 or less for singles,
• $112,500 or less for heads of household, and
• $150,000 or less for married couples filing a joint return, and for qualified widows and widowers.

For more information, visit IRS.gov/childtaxcredit2021, or read the FAQs on the 2021 Child Tax Credit and Advance Child Tax Credit Payments.

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