The IRS is preparing to distribute the second round of the advance child tax credits to tens of millions of families this week.
Payments are set to go out Friday to more than 30 million qualifying households, according to the federal tax agency.
While the checks are typically disbursed on the 15th of each month, this month’s installment will be paid on Aug. 13 due to the other date falling on a weekend. The payments for the remainder of this year are slated to go out on the 15th of each month.
The first installment went out on July 15, although some parents received theirs earlier than that.
Eligible families will get up to $300 per month for qualifying children under the age of 6, and $250 each month for each qualifying child between 6 and 17 years old.
For the full year, that works out to $3,600 per child 5 years old and younger and $3,000 for every child between the ages of 6 and 17. Previously, the maximum credit was $2,000 per child for the year.
The child tax credit increase, as well as the new advance payments, are both the result of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that President Joe Biden signed into law this past March.
In California, the child tax credit expansion is expected to benefit nearly 8 million kids.
Taxpayers eligible for the full amount are those with a modified adjusted gross incomes of: $75,000 or less for singles; $112,500 or less for heads of households; and $150,000 or less for married couples filing jointly.
The advance payments will continue through December and then households can claim the last half of the child tax credit next year when they file their 2021 return.
Most people won’t have to do anything to get the advance funds, provided they already filed their 2019 or 2020 tax return and claimed the child tax credit, or they submitted their information through the IRS’s non-filers tool.
Parents who would rather receive the rest of the installments in one lump sum can opt out of the monthly payments through an online portal set up by the tax agency. The next deadline to unenroll is Aug. 30.
For those who have unenrolled but to want to receive the payments in advance again, the IRS said it will unveil a re-enroll option in late summer.
Parents also can also check their enrollment in the tax credit program, as well as make changes to their bank account information for the payments, through the IRS’s online tool. An option to change the address on file with the IRS will appear sometime this month, according to the agency.
The latest information on child tax credits can be found here.