06/23/2021
For my clients that have children and are concerned about the advance payments that will start in July. If you do not unenroll from the advance payment half the total credit amount ($1,500 for children over 6, $1,800 for children under 5) will be paid in advance monthly payments and you will claim the other half when you file your 2021 income tax return.
For tax year 2021, the Child Tax Credit is increased from $2,000 per qualifying child to:
* $3,600 for children ages 5 and under at the end of 2021; and
* $3,000 for children ages 6 through 17 at the end of 2021.
So if you have children over 5 you normally had $2,000 credit per child . If you take payments you will get $1,500 advance and still have a $1,500 credit at tax time this year because of the increase . Therefore your refund will be $500 less at tax time per child. This isnβt a problem for those clients having large refunds if you want / need money now.
Remember if you have more than one child your refund will be about $500 less per child, so make sure you normally have a large enough refund to cover this. If your refund is normally a small amount or you depend on a large refund at tax time, I suggest you unenroll at the IRS website
Find details about the advance Child Tax Credit payments, including how to get them or stop getting them.