Didn’t receive the first child tax credit direct payment yet? Here’s what to do
The first child tax credit payments were sent to eligible families Thursday — but some may not see them right away.
The tax credits — included in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed into law in March — will provide eligible parents with up to $3,600 per child over the course of a year. The first half of the credit will be sent as monthly payments of up to $300 for the rest of 2021, and the second half can be claimed when filing taxes for 2021.
Families who did not opt to receive the full amount when they file taxes next year were sent their first monthly payments on Thursday and will receive them on the 15th of each month (except for August, when payments will be sent on the 13th) for the rest of the year.
What if I didn’t receive my payment?
The Internal Revenue Service issued the payments on Thursday, but it could take time for some families to get them.
Families who are not enrolled in direct deposit will be sent paper checks through the mail and may not receive their payments as quickly, the IRS says.
“The IRS urges any family receiving checks to consider switching to direct deposit,” the agency says. “With direct deposit, families can access their money more quickly. Direct deposit removes the time, worry and expense of cashing a check. In addition, direct deposit eliminates the chance of a lost, stolen or undelivered check.”
Parents can use the Child Tax Credit Update Portal to update their bank information and switch to direct deposit.
Mark Steber, chief tax information officer at Jackson Hewitt, told CBS News some people may also experience a two or three day lag in receiving their payments via direct deposit.
It can take some banks time to process the funds before they show up in individual accounts, Steber told CBS. When the third round of direct stimulus payments was sent to millions of Americans in March, many didn’t see the money in their accounts for several days.
Families who don’t receive their issued payments after a certain amount of time can request a payment trace to track their payment, the IRS says.
But the IRS says it can’t trace the payment unless it has been more than five days “since the deposit date and the bank says it hasn’t received the payment,” more than four weeks since the payment was sent via mail, more than 6 weeks since the payment was mailed to families with a forwarding address and more than 9 weeks since the payment was sent to an address outside the U.S.
After those time periods, parents can mail or fax the IRS a completed Form 3911, which can be found here, to start the tracking process.
About the child tax credits
The temporarily-enhanced tax credits provide eligible families with $3,600 total per child under age 6 and $3,000 total per child ages 6 to 17.
Single parents earning up to $75,000 a year and couples earning up to $150,000 a year are eligible for the full credit. Benefits are then phased out for higher incomes.
The Internal Revenue Service’s Child Tax Credit Eligibility Assistant tool allows families to check if they are eligible.
Parents can opt out of future monthly payments using the Child Tax Credit Update Portal. They need to do so at least three days before the first Thursday of the following month, the IRS says. Parents who unenroll will not yet have the option to reenroll later.
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Didn’t receive the first child tax credit direct payment yet? Here’s what to do."
