New Stimulus Check: How the Expanded Child Tax Credit Works

Joe Biden and Honest Abe

New Stimulus Check: How the Expanded Child Tax Credit Works

We’ve known since the passage of the American Rescue Plan back in March that payments to Americans with children will be going out starting in July, in the form of an expanded child tax credit. The payments will arrive in multiple installments.

We’ve known since the passage of the American Rescue Plan back in March that payments to Americans with children will be going out starting in July, in the form of an expanded child tax credit. The payments will arrive in multiple installments.

On Monday morning, the Treasury Department announced that the first payments from the new tax credit would go out July 15. They will continue going out on the 15th of each subsequent month, unless the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday.

Not everyone is eligible for the payments.

“Eligible families will receive a payment of up to $300 per month for each child under age 6 and up to $250 per month for each child age 6 and above,” the Treasury press release said. “The American Rescue Plan increased the maximum Child Tax Credit in 2021 to $3,600 for children under the age of 6 and to $3,000 per child for children between ages 6 and 17. The American Rescue Plan is projected to lift more than five million children out of poverty this year, cutting child poverty by more than half.”

The Washington Post reported, citing a call with Administration officials, that about 80 percent of the payments are expected to be remitted via direct deposit.

“With two parents, two kids, that’s $7,200 in the pockets you’re getting to help take care of your family,” Biden said when he addressed a joint session of Congress last month. “And that will help more than sixty-five million children and help cut child care poverty in half, and we can afford it.”

“People that are eligible would be those that are under $150,000 of income for married filing joint, $75,000 for single, or $112,500 for those who are head of household and under,” said Genaro Cardaropoli, president and certified public accountant at Menasha’s Hjortness CPAs, told Fox 11 News.

In his American Families Plan, President Biden has proposed extending the child tax credit through 2025. Another proposal, in Congress, would make that tax credit permanent, although it’s unclear how good a chance either proposal has of passing into law. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proposed extending the

The $1,400 stimulus checks have been going out each week since the Rescue Plan passed in March, but it appears that Treasury is nearly done distributing those checks. Last week, the ninth round of payments went below 1 million, as 960,000 payments, totaling over $1.8 billion, were sent out.

Those who wish to receive the credit will not have to do anything at all, aside from file their tax returns on time; the federal filing deadline, for those without an extension, is Monday.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.