Starting July 15, Queens families will receive child tax credit payments which will provide advance monthly payments of up to $300 per month per child through December.
Congresswoman Grace Meng is urging families to be on the lookout for the expanded child tax credit payments that was established under the American Rescue Plan, the most recent COVID-19 relief package that passed Congress in March.
“Queens, New York City, and the rest of the nation continue to rebound from the COVID-19 crisis and we get closer to the light at the end of the tunnel each and every day,” Meng said. “But hard-working families in our borough, and throughout New York, still need help from the impact of the pandemic, and these advance Child Tax Credit payments will provide critical and needed assistance for expenses as we move forward with our recovery.”
Approximately 82 percent of children, or 120,500 children, in Meng’s sixth congressional district could benefit from the expanded and improved child tax credit. About 38,500 households in the district could get an average total benefit of $2,400.
Last month, Meng urged Queens families to file their taxes before the upcoming May 17 deadline to ensure that they receive the full amount of the expanded child tax credit.
Details on the amount, eligibility and distribution of the tax credit are below.
How much is the child tax credit expansion from the American Rescue Plan?
The American Rescue Plan expanded the child tax credit to up to $3,600 per child for children ages 0 to 5 and $3,000 per child for children ages 6 to 17. The American Rescue Plan also authorized advance monthly payments of the child tax credit through December 2021. Beginning in July and running through December, qualifying families can get up to:
- $300 a month per child for children ages 0 to 5.
- $250 a month per child for children ages 6 to 17.
Families will get their remaining expanded child tax credit when they file their 2021 tax return.
Who Qualifies?
Families will qualify for a full credit if their income is below $75,000 for single filers, $112,000 for people filing as head of household, or $150,000 for people who are married and filing jointly.
How Do I Get the Payment?
Nearly all hardworking families should get their monthly payments automatically beginning July 15 with no further action required. If you’ve filed tax returns for 2019 or 2020, or if you signed up to receive a stimulus check from the Internal Revenue Service, you will get this tax relief automatically. You do not need to sign up or take any action.
Families who did not file a tax return for 2019 or 2020 and who did not use the IRS Non-filers tool last year to sign up for the Economic Impact Payments, should go online and use the IRS Child Tax Credit Non-filer Sign-up Tool to sign up today.
Families who got their refunds from the IRS through direct deposit will get these payments in their bank account around the 15th of every month until the end of 2021. People who don’t use direct deposit will receive their payment by mail around the same time.
Families will be able to determine their eligibility, check the status of their payments and more at IRS.gov/childtaxcredit2021.
The IRS is urging everyone to be aware of scams — using email, phone calls or texts — related to both advance child tax credit payments and economic impact payments.
The IRS emphasized that the only way to get either of these benefits is by either filing a tax return with the IRS or registering online through the Non-filer Sign-up tool, exclusively on IRS.gov. Any other option is a scam. The IRS never sends unsolicited electronic communications asking anyone to open attachments or visit a non-governmental web site.”
