Last Call: Claim Your 2021 Child Tax Credit, Stimulus Payments, and EITC
If you have not filed a 2021 IRS tax return yet but need to file a return to get important benefits for you and your family, you have until November 15 to do so online. There is no penalty for filing a return after the April deadline if you are claiming a refund!
On 2021 IRS returns, individuals can claim various benefits that are more generous than before, including:
- The expanded Child Tax Credit: At least half of the expanded Child Tax Credit can be claimed on a 2021 return. If you did not get any advance payments and/or had a baby born in 2021, you can claim the full credit on your return.
- A larger Earned Income Tax Credit if you had earnings from work in 2021.
- The Recovery Rebate Credit if you missed any $1,400 stimulus payments in 2021, including if you had a baby born in 2021.
If you had income from work in 2021 and have not filed a 2021 IRS return yet, you should do so by November 15, 2022 at IRS.gov/freefile. The IRS FreeFile program offers free tax filing for individuals who made $73,000 or less in 2021. If you had earnings from a job in 2021, FreeFile can help you claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, among other important credits.
If you do not usually file tax returns or would not normally have a reason to file a 2021 return, because your only income was Social Security or another public benefit or because you had no income, you should use getctc.org. GetCTC.org will be available to use until November 15, 2022. You can use this site to file a simplified return to get any expanded Child Tax Credit or missed 2021 $1,400 stimulus payments ("recovery rebate credits" on the 2021 return) that you did not get. There is no minimum income for claiming the expanded Child Tax Credit or the Recovery Rebate Credit.
If you miss the November 15 deadline for any reason, you can still make an appointment with the Campaign for Working Families come next January 2023, at cwfphilly.org, to file a 2021 return to get these refunds.
