IRS sends Child Tax Credit payments to families of 60 million children

The Internal Revenue Service sent the first set of monthly Child Tax Credit payments to families of nearly 60 million children this week, averaging out to $483 per family. 

Approximately $15 billion worth of payments were distributed, the government said.

“For the first time in our nation's history, American working families are receiving monthly tax relief payments to help pay for essentials like doctor’s visits, school supplies, and groceries,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement on Thursday. “This major middle-class tax relief and step in reducing child poverty is a remarkable economic victory for America – and also a moral one.”

The monthly payments — made possible by the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that also increased the credit amount and made it fully refundable — will be distributed monthly through December. The first payments were set to go out on July 15, but some received theirs a day earlier.

Eighty-six percent of the first payments were directly deposited to bank accounts. The remainder were sent out as checks in the mail.

Families that do not normally file a federal tax return but provided their banking information through the IRS Non-Filers tool for the stimulus payments will automatically get the CTC payments. This affects more than 720,000 children whose families otherwise wouldn't have received the payments.

The maximum credit in 2021 is $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for children between 6 and 17. Families will get half of their credit distributed in six installments. The next five monthly payments will be sent out on August 13, September 15, October 15, November 15, and December 15.