Are You Missing Monthly Child Tax Credit Payments?
If you filed a 2020 tax return claiming children, but you have not yet started receiving the monthly Child Tax Credit payment, it might be because the IRS hasn’t yet processed your return. The IRS is still behind in processing 2020 taxes, and processing takes an extra long time if your return was mailed in, or if your return had any mistakes or information that didn’t match IRS records. Also, even if your return was processed, if the IRS is now examining it for some reason, that could cause your monthly payments to be stopped.
Luckily, the IRS plans to make up for missed payments. The IRS is saying that if they process your return by November 1 you’ll get payments in November and December to make up for the 4 payments you’ve missed so far. And if they process your return by November 29, the IRS says they will give you one payment in December that will cover all 6 months of the payment.
If you didn’t file taxes (or use the non-filer portal) for 2019 or 2020, you need to file a 2020 return to start receiving the monthly Child Tax Credit payments (and any stimulus payments you didn’t already receive.)
If you have income to report on a 2020 return, you can still make an appointment for free tax preparation assistance with Campaign for Working Families https://cwfphilly.org/. CWF stops preparing returns after October 15th.
If you didn’t have any income to report in 2020, you can use the GetCTC mobile app https://www.getctc.org/en to register for the Child Tax Credit payments (and/or for any stimulus payments you didn’t yet receive), but you can only use this until November 15th, so if you know you need to file, don’t wait!
We’ve also seen some cases where taxpayers are just not receiving the correct monthly payment amount. For almost everyone who missed out on payments they were entitled to, you will be able to claim whatever you didn’t get when you file your 2021 tax return early next year!
And, the IRS is also still saying that it will create a website for people to report a 2021 change in family, such as the birth of a child or a change in filing status, to get the advance monthly payments this year based on what they expect to report on their 2021 tax returns next year. We’ll provide more information about this once the IRS makes it public.
Do you still have questions? Contact us!