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- This week, parents of around 60 million American children will receive their first monthly child tax credit payment.
- The new policy offers parents and eligible non-parents the opportunity to get stimulus payments they missed.
- These people would be eligible for the three stimulus checks, amounting to $ 3,200 in federal relief.
This week, parents of around 60 million American children will receive their first monthly child tax credit payment as part of the Democrats’ expansion of the program.
But the new policy also offers parents and non-parents the option of receiving pandemic stimulus payments that they were entitled to but missed. These people would be eligible for the three stimulus checks, amounting to $ 3,200 in federal relief. Senior administration officials confirmed this during a call with reporters on Wednesday evening.
The expanded child tax credit is important in part because parents who have no tax liability can take advantage of the benefit. Previously, it excluded families who did not earn enough to file their taxes, thereby eliminating many of the poorest parents in the country. It is also the first time that the government has paid family allowances through monthly checks, rather than a lump sum collected annually. Payments will run from July to December.
Most parents who qualify for the Child Tax Credit will automatically receive their monthly payments by direct deposit or check in the mail. But non-filers must register for payments through a new online portal specifically designed to register people typically outside the tax system.
Those who haven’t filed taxes in the past two years, but are eligible for the tax credit and stimulus checks, could receive a bargain if they sign up for stimulus checks on a new one. online portal created by the government. Senior administration officials described it as another way to encourage people to sign up for federal aid they are already eligible for.
In addition, for parents who take out the Child Tax Credit before the end of the year, they will receive all monthly payments until July.
“If you don’t register by September, October because you don’t know about it, you will receive these payment arrears,” Christopher Wimer, co-director of the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, told Insider. “If you were eligible for these one-time stimulus payments in any of the previous clawback invoices and signed up for the Child Tax Credit, you would also receive these refunds when you signed up.”
Kris Cox, deputy director of federal tax policy at the Left Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the additional checks for non-filers would further support some of the country’s most vulnerable children.
“For families who have not claimed their [economic impact payments], that’s an extra and substantial amount of money that can really make a difference in the lives of their children, ”Cox told Insider.
Still, some experts and community groups expressed concern that the registration portal for non-filers was inaccessible and too complex. For example, it is only available in English and cannot be used on a smartphone. Poorer Americans are also less likely to own a
desktop computer
or laptop.
“The IRS special portal is designed pretty crap,” said Samuel Hammond, social policy expert at the right-wing Niskanen Center, in an interview. “More than half of the country does not regularly file federal income taxes, especially for very low incomes. They may never have needed to file income taxes and there is a huge lack of knowledge.”
Experts say between four and eight million children will not receive the payments because their parents may have difficulty using the portal or are unfamiliar with the policy. Matt Bruenig, political expert at the left-wing People’s Policy Project, estimated that around 6.6 million children could be excluded from the benefit.
Senior administration officials told reporters they would continue to try to resolve these issues and, in addition to recruiting advocates who can directly help people register for child benefit. They argued that while more accessible technology would be helpful, these people need the direct help of advocates to guide them through the process.
Couples earning $ 150,000 or less – and unmarried single parents earning up to $ 112,500 – are eligible for full monthly checks of $ 300 for children under 6 and $ 250 for children. between 6 and 17 years old. The payments, which will benefit about 88% of American children, are starting to disappear for families with incomes over $ 150,000.
The expanded child tax credit, part of Democrats’ $ 1.9 trillion US bailout passed last March, is a major expansion of the social safety net that experts compare to Social Security in its breadth and scope. Wimer and his colleagues at Columbia estimated that the improved child tax credit could cut child poverty by more than half.
“If this were to remain permanent, the only type of policy or analogous program we could compare it to would be the social society for the elderly,” Wimer said. “It would be equivalent to the one for kids, basically saying that kids in America shouldn’t be poor, and that would be a major change in social policy for families with kids and something we haven’t done before. . ”
But the impact of the child tax credit will be lessened if millions of Americans who have not filed taxes do not claim the payments. Publicizing the new program and helping parents apply are major challenges for the government.
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