December 15, 2021
Candace J. Dixon
More than 36 million families will soon be receiving their December advance Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments. While this is the final advance payment, people who did not receive advance payments can still claim the full amount of the Child Tax Credit on their 2021 federal tax returns, meaning they'll need to file a return even if they're not normally required to do so. Any missed payments can be claimed as well as the other half of the credit, as long as eligibility is met.
This final batch of payments for 2021 announced by the IRS today totals about $16 billion. Most were sent by direct deposit and should hit accounts beginning Wednesday; those sent by mail will take longer.
The December payments are being sent to people who filed 2019 or 2020 federal tax returns that were processed by December 1, whether traditionally or via the IRS' Non-Filers tool. Eligible people who didn't get the first five payments that began in July but filed in time should be seeing their total advance payment amount made in the December payment, which is half of the total Child Tax Credit.
Since people who received advance payments still need to file a 2021 tax return to get the other half of the CTC, IRS is sending out a letter that will help them compare the advance Child Tax Credit payments they received in 2021 with the amount of the Child Tax Credit they can properly claim on their 2021 tax return. Letter 6419 will be going out in January of 2022 and should be kept with other tax records; it will have the total amount of advance Child Tax Credit payments received in 2021 as well as the number of qualifying children used to calculate those advance payments. The IRS page Reconciling Your Advance Child Tax Credit Payments on Your 2021 Tax Return has more detailed information, and the IRS's special advance CTC 2021 page has online tools, answers to frequently asked questions, and other resources.
Families have received more than 200 million payments totaling more than $93 billion from the Child Tax Credit, which was expanded under the American Rescue Plan. Most people who were eligible received payments dated July 15, August 13, September 15, October 15, November 15 and December 15, each one being up to $300 for each child under age 6, and up to $250 per month for each child ages 6 through 17.
While there had been talk of keeping the Child Tax Credit expanded beyond 2021, possibly even permanently, its fate is currently caught up in the passage of the Build Back Better bill- or as of now, the lack of its passage by the Senate. If not passed by the end of the year, the Child Tax Credit will revert to its prior significantly smaller amount next year and no longer be refundable or advanced.