Child tax credit payments roll out starting Thursday

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Starting Thursday, families will start getting their payments as part of hundreds of dollars in monthly support from the federal child tax credit.

The expansion, coordinated by the Internal Revenue Service, will give lower to middle-class families with children younger than six $300 every month.

People with children between the ages of six and 17-years-old will see $250 per month.

President Joe Biden said the direct payments will be "life changing" for millions of families.

"To give you a sense of how transformative this is, this will be the largest ever one year decrease in child poverty in the history of the United States of America as we begin now. Historic reductions in child poverty among white, Black and Latinos and AAPI communities," Biden said. "It’s not even close. The benefits will be felt for years."

The payments will go out for people who did not opt out. This is money you would get when you file your taxes next year, you’re just getting it in advance.

Those who filed their tax returns for 2019 or 2020 or signed up to receive COVID-19 stimulus checks, will automatically receive the tax benefit. Otherwise, to qualify, you have to be a single parent with an adjusted gross income under $75,000. If you’re a single parent, head of household, you have to be making less than $112,500. Married couples who filed jointly are eligible if they make less than $150,000.

The program is optional, so, if you opted out previously, it’s too late to get the payments this month. If you get the payment this month it’s not too late to opt-out for next month. News10NBC spoke to Public Relations Manager at EG Tax Tim Eliason, who said if you did not opt-out for the month, you may want to consider opting out the next month.

"The first one right out of the gate is if you have a married couple, and their income maybe is over $100,000, and maybe they’re going to start to earn more, and they’re going to approach that threshold of $150,000 for married filing joint, or maybe a single parent at $112,000, at that point, the credit, the money that you’re getting up front, you are no longer eligible for, so you will have to repay it on the tax return," Eliason said.

If you opt-out, you will get the lump sum when you file your taxes next year.

The program is slated to expire after one year, though President Joe Biden has proposed extending it through 2025 with the ultimate goal of making it permanent.

More information can be found here. Additional resources can be found here.