Missing September’s child tax credit payment? IRS investigates why some didn’t get it
The Internal Revenue Service is investigating why some parents are missing their September child tax credit payments.
The third round of monthly payments of up to $300 per child were sent out Wednesday to eligible families either through direct deposit or paper checks sent in the mail. But the IRS said Friday that it’s aware of some cases in which parents who received payments in July and August have not yet received their September payments.
As of Monday, the agency had not given a reason why some parents may be missing the funds but said last week that it was “looking into this situation” and would provide more information when it’s available.
Families who are enrolled in direct deposit should have seen the money in their bank accounts starting Wednesday while those who receive their checks through the mail should “allow extra time,” possibly through the end of the month, to get their payments, the IRS said.
“The IRS urges any family receiving checks to consider switching to direct deposit,” the IRS previously said. “With direct deposit, families can access their money more quickly. Direct deposit removes the time, worry and expense of cashing a check. In addition, direct deposit eliminates the chance of a lost, stolen or undelivered check.”
Parents can use the IRS’s Child Tax Credit Update Portal to enroll in direct deposit and provide their bank account information. Oct. 4 is the deadline to do so before the next round of payments, which go out Oct. 15.
What if you’re missing a previous payment?
Eligible families who have not received their July or August payments should check the update portal to make sure they are enrolled in the payments and that the payments are being sent to the right place.
Those who haven’t received their issued payments after a certain amount of time can request a payment trace to track their payment by mailing or faxing the IRS a completed Form 3911, which can be found here.
The IRS said it can’t trace a payment unless it has been more than five days “since the deposit date and the bank says it hasn’t received the payment,” more than four weeks since the payment was sent via mail, more than six weeks since the payment was mailed to families with a forwarding address and more than nine weeks since the payment was sent to an address outside the U.S.
Families also need to have filed a 2019 or 2020 tax return or used the IRS’s non-filers tool, which remains available through Oct. 15, to receive the tax credits. The IRS said last week it’s “not too late” for families who haven’t done so yet to sign up for the payments.
The Treasury Department has said eligible families who didn’t sign-up in time to receive the first rounds of payments can “receive increased monthly payments to catch-up for previous months after they sign up.”
About the child tax credit
The temporarily enhanced tax credits — included in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Joe Biden in March — provide eligible parents with $3,600 total per child under age 6 and $3,000 total per child ages 6 to 17. Single parents earning up to $75,000 a year and couples earning up to $150,000 a year are eligible for the full credit. Benefits are then phased out for people with higher incomes.
The IRS’s Child Tax Credit Eligibility Assistant tool allows families to check if they’re eligible.
The first half of the credit will be sent as monthly payments of up to $300 for the rest of 2021, and the second half can be claimed when filing 2021 taxes. Payments are sent on the 15th of each month.
Parents can unenroll from the monthly payments and instead receive a larger lump sum when they file their 2021 income taxes in 2022. They can unenroll from future payments using the update portal. Once families opt out of the direct payments, they won’t have an option to re-enroll yet. Oct. 4 is the deadline to opt out of the fourth payment.
This story was originally published September 20, 2021 at 1:42 PM.
