The Biden administration wants families with children to know that there is roughly $193 billion waiting for them — all they need to do is file their taxes to claim it.
That estimated total is what remains of the expanded child tax credit, and the administration is concerned that some of those most in need of the assistance may be the least likely to get what is due to them.
President Joe Biden increased the payments and expanded who was eligible as part of his coronavirus relief package. While most families already received half of the credit as monthly payments last year, they’ll lose out on the remaining balance unless they file their taxes.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held a virtual event Tuesday to encourage people to send their tax forms to the IRS, including those whose incomes are so low that they might not have traditionally filed.
Harris said that families should go to childtaxcredit.gov to check their eligibility.
“The truth is there are people across our nation who work hard every day and still struggle to get by and it should not be this way in our country,” Harris said. “You still need to file your taxes. That is the only way to receive the second half of what you are owed.”
The public push is occurring at a critical juncture for the U.S. economy and the child tax credit program. Inflation is running at a nearly 40-year high, meaning that the additional money from the credit will help offset the costs of food, gasoline and other goods as the U.S. is still emerging from the pandemic. But efforts to renew the expanded credits for another year have been blocked in the Senate, making it important for advocates to demonstrate how the credits have reduced child poverty by an estimated 40%.
Yellen said research suggests that the payments are among the most promising policies for combating poverty, highlighting recent research to suggest that the money was linked to higher brain activity in the babies of poor mothers.
Several lawmakers and nonprofits are taking part in the outreach, and there are plans to hold events in all 50 states and Puerto Rico during the tax filing season. Yellen noted that nonprofits are often better at reaching out to poorer populations.
As part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Biden increased the child tax credits to $3,600 annually for each child age 5 or under and $3,000 for those ages 6 to 17. The government began to send the payments out on a monthly basis starting last July, meaning that there are six months worth of payments waiting to be claimed by people filing their taxes.
The administration estimates that roughly 58 million households would qualify for the credit, which average $3,300 and could be used to offset an existing tax bill or be paid out as a refund.
The relief package also nearly tripled the earned income tax credit for workers without dependent children, meaning that 17 million people could receive credits worth $1,500.