is set to hit tens of millions of Americans’ bank accounts on Monday. In this post, we’ll walk through the information you need to know about the final child tax credit payments — including when they’re coming, and more.
The most important thing to know about the remaining payments? Just two are left. There’s the one coming on Monday, November 15, and then a final payment in the series on December 15. The million-dollar question, as it were: What happens next year?
Next child tax credit payments
We actually know part of the answer to that question about next year, but let’s start with some of the more basic things first. Like the fact that only two more child tax credit payments are coming this year.
Both of those will generally be for the same amount included with the preceding four checks. With some exceptions, of course. For example, some Americans haven’t yet started getting any of the checks in this six-check series. If they sign up before November 15 (with details available here), though, they should get one payment in December that catches them up.
Also, separate from what might or might not happen next year? There’s also a companion benefit to this year’s six child tax credit payments. Those six actually total only half of the child tax credit amount that eligible families are approved for.
New stimulus check for millions of Americans
The second half comes next year. Families will get it in the form of a tax credit when they file their federal tax returns.
The six checks this year that started in July represented a creative solution to a problem. The checks stemmed from the $1.9 trillion stimulus law that Congress passed back in March. Among other things, that law expanded the normal amount of the child tax credit.
If this would have been a normal year, that would have meant simply giving eligible families a bigger tax credit when they filed their taxes in 2022. Instead, because we’re still in the middle of an economically devastating pandemic? Congress structured this thing so that Americans get half of the tax credit as an up-front cash payment. And spread out over several months.
What happens next?
For now, that advance is set to stop in December. However, it’s worth noting that Democrats might have painted themselves into a corner here.
Next year are the midterm elections. Democrats just spent half a year acclimating Americans (i.e., voters) to the comforting regularity of a new monthly paycheck from the federal government. It’s certainly in Democrats’ political interests to find a way to keep these payments going.
To that end, Democrats are reportedly working at the moment on a plan to extend the child tax credit expansion for one year. Nothing is final yet. But at least at the moment, there’s a possibility that another year’s worth of these checks is coming.
