Making Sense Of The Advance Child Tax Credit Payments

SALT LAKE CITY — Parents with children at home are about to get an influx of cash each month, beginning this summer.

KSL’s Dan Spindle wanted to take a deeper dive to try to spell out exactly what the advance child tax credits mean for Utah families now and at tax time next year.

Parents might be saying, ‘Dan, I know I’ve gotten child tax credits before’ — but not like this.

“Doing it monthly this way and increasing the amount, what that’s going to do is that’s almost going to reduce child poverty by half,” said Michael Stevens with Capital Wealth Advisors.

Stevens pointed out the monthly payment aspect from July through December in the amount of $300 for children under age 6 and $250 for children ages 6 to 17.

That amount adds up, but that’s only half. The other half of the enhanced credit you’ll claim when you file your taxes next spring.

This comes in addition to the traditional $2,000 per child tax credit you might be used to.

Like the stimulus, single parents making less than $75,000 or couples making less than$150,000 will get the credit.

Parents can opt out of the monthly payment and take the entire lump sum when they get their tax refund next year. They should check their bank account around the 15th of each month, starting in July, as around 80% of parents who qualify for the child tax credit will get the money via direct deposit.

IRS.gov spells it out pretty clearly, but we’ll revisit this topic over the next couple of months.