Check your mailbox, people, because for millions of you a new stimulus check should be arriving in the next day or so. That’s according to the latest child tax credit update from the IRS, which has shared some early details about this second round of child tax credit payments.
Check #2 of this ultimately six-check series started going out on Friday, August 13. This is an all-new stimulus check, of sorts, that will provide a few hundred dollars to families with eligible children. The six checks are coming each month through December. And here’s what you need to know about them.
Child tax credit update
The IRS had previously set the 15th of each month, starting in July and ending in December, as the date when these new checks would go out. This month, however, the 15th falls on a Sunday. So the tax agency backed up the payment date this month to Friday, August 13.
That’s the date when direct deposits for this new child tax credit check started hitting bank accounts. If the IRS doesn’t have your bank details, however, you’ll have to wait another couple of days or so. For your check to arrive in the mail, in paper form, that is.
Important points to know about this second child tax credit check from the IRS include:
- This new batch of payments totals about $15 billion.
- These payments are going out to around 36 million US families.
- The vast majority of the payments will come in the form of a direct deposit, not as a paper check.
Additional points from the IRS
Some families will need to be aware of this alert the IRS included in its child tax credit update on Friday. “The IRS wants to alert some recipients who received direct deposits in July that they will receive the August payments by mail. Due to an issue expected to be resolved by the September payments, a percentage of these recipients — less than 15% — who received payments by direct deposit in July will be mailed paper checks for the August payment.”
The good news, according to the tax agency? For those affected, the September payment should revert back to a direct deposit automatically. Also, families can always visit the IRS Child Tax Credit Update Portal to see if they’re receiving a direct deposit or paper check for the current month.
Also worth noting, according to the IRS:
Families who didn’t get a July payment and are getting their first monthly payment in August will still receive their full child tax credit payment for the year. That means that the total payment will span five months, rather than six, making each monthly payment larger.
