Millions of eligible children may miss out on expanded Child Tax Credit, study finds
Many families became eligible for the first time under the expanded credit
Child tax credits land in bank accounts
'Wall Street' columnist Bill McGurn tells 'Fox Business Tonight' the tax credit is 'a bad precedent' for families
The IRS is missing the required information for millions of American households that could potentially qualify to receive the expanded Child Tax Credit, a new report shows.
About 4 million or more children in low-income families risk missing out on the monthly payments this year if the IRS does not receive their identification and payment information, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Many of these families became eligible for the first time under the terms of the American Rescue Plan.
These households also likely did not receive any of the three stimulus payments they were eligible for, researchers noted.
IRS WARNS TAXPAYERS ABOUT CHILD TAX CREDIT SCAMS AS PAYMENTS REACH HOUSEHOLDS
In addition to low-income families, households with immigrant parents whose children have Social Security numbers are among those who are eligible to claim the tax credit.
In order to receive the credit, these households must either file a tax return or submit their information through the IRS’ non-filer portal.
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Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., previously warned that millions of families could be at risk of missing out on the payments due to accessibility issues on the IRS’ non-filer portal. He pointed out, for example, that the website was not optimized for mobile use and was not able to be translated easily into languages other than English.
The Oregon Democrat expressed concern that without these updates, individuals in vulnerable communities may miss out on the benefit.
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The expanded Child Tax Credit is $3,600 for children under the age of 6 and $3,000 for children between the ages of 6 and 17.
The IRS is paying half of the total credit in advance monthly payments beginning on July 15, while taxpayers will claim the rest when they file their 2021 return.
As previously reported by FOX Business, the IRS warned that scammers were targeting Child Tax Credit payments earlier this month.