About 39 million U.S. households will begin receiving monthly child tax-credit payments in mid-July, most of them automatically, as part of the Covid recovery bill in March, administration officials said.
The administration announced Monday that monthly payments of as much as $300 for each child under age 6, and as high as $250 per month for children age 6 to 17, would begin on July 15 and continue for the rest of the year.
Of the eligible households, about 80% will receive payments automatically through direct deposit and don’t need to do anything to set that up, said officials familiar with the plan, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity.
The advance payments, by starting at mid-year, will deliver half of the one-time boost to the Child Tax Credit that was included in the American Rescue Plan, the first aid bill passed under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Biden has proposed extending the measure but it’s not clear if Congress will support that. The one-time hike boosted the maximum credit in 2021 to $3,600 for children under age 6, and to $3,000 per child for those ages 6 to 17.
The payments are a signal to working families with children that “help is here,” Biden said in a statement.
Recipients who don’t have direct deposit will get payments through other methods like checks or debit cards, the officials said. U.S. officials are launching portals and information campaigns to publicize the program and enable changes, including for people who want to opt out.
Households eligible for the payments account for about 88% of children in the U.S.,; the remainder have income above the program’s threshold. The payments are based on 2019 or 2020 tax returns.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.