To help families meet their children’s basic needs, Congress expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for 2021. Families will receive $3,600 per child up to age 5 and $3,00 per child 6 to 17, half of which is paid out in monthly checks. If you haven’t filed taxes recently, you can use the CTC Non-Filer Sign Up Tool to sign up.
August 4, 2021; Washington, DC—Today, over 700 community-serving organizations called on Congress and the Biden administration to make the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) a permanent investment and ensure it is available to all families who need it. The Automatic Benefit for Children (ABC) Coalition, co-chaired by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) and the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), led this effort which comes at an urgent moment as the expanded CTC’s future past 2021 is uncertain. Congress must act now, or the expanded credit will expire after this year.
If you’re a renter having trouble paying your rent, utilities, or other housing costs—or if you’re a landlord trying to stay afloat with tenants in this situation—use the new CFPB tool to identify the state and local programs near you that are distributing billions of dollars in rental assistance.
Please join the Automatic Benefit for Children (ABC) Coalition, co-chaired by the Children’s Defense Fund and Center for the Study of Social Policy, on July 27th, from 2:00 to 3:15 p.m. ET for a webinar titled “Ensuring Families Receive the Child Tax Credit: Innovative Outreach Strategies and Removing Barriers for Families to Sign Up.”
This crisis must be treated with urgency and as a matter of racial and economic justice. President Biden and Congress can and must respond by making the Child Tax Credit permanent with critical improvements so that Black, Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Indigenous, and immigrant children — who are too often excluded from support services — can receive the benefit. If we are truly committed to racial justice and systemic equality, the choice is clear.
Today, the first round of Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments—up to $300 per child—are hitting the bank accounts of millions of families across the country. Thanks to the expansion of the CTC included in the American Rescue Plan passed in March by the House and Senate Democrats and signed by President Biden, all but the highest-income families will receive monthly payments for the rest of 2021.