Child Tax Credit: What To Do With Delays, Missing Payments and Wrong Amount?

Millions of families in the United States are expecting to get a windfall as the first rollout of the child tax credit payment starts on July 15. However,  some parents may not see the money in their bank accounts until Thursday night or a few days later.

Reports cited that the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) has been besieged with tight timelines and logistic delays in disbursing child tax credit payments to 35 million families. Similar to the distribution of the stimulus payments in 2020, some hitches and issues may arise from this rollout.

The monthly credit should be automatic for taxpayers who filed in 2019 or 2020, or for non-filers who got their stimulus checks in 2020 after registering for the benefit on the IRS portal. However, for delayed or missing payments, parents are advised to verify if they have an existing file with the IRS first and submit the necessary documents to be eligible for the benefit. 

Everything can be done online via the IRS child tax credit portal. 

Delayed, Missing or Incorrect Payments

Parents, who have confirmed they are eligible but have yet to receive their payment via direct deposit, may check the status from the IRS portal at least five days after the rollout date has passed. They can file a trace if the status still indicates that their bank has not received the funds from the IRS.

Read Also: ​New Child Tax Credit Checks Start Rolling Out on July 15; Will Scheme Be Permanent?

To initiate the trace, the taxpayer will need to fill out and send IRS form 3911 via fax or snail mail to request for the trace. The IRS said that the results of the trace will take at least six weeks. Meanwhile, parents who opted to receive the payment via check in the mail must ideally wait for four weeks before requesting a trace. 

Eligible beneficiaries of the child tax credit payments may get a maximum of $3,600 per child for the covered financial year if they have children under 6 years old, or $3,000 if their kids are 6 to 17 years old. Half of this benefit will be distributed in six monthly payments, amounting to $250 to $300 per child.

However, parents who received an incorrect amount or had their payment deposited to the wrong bank account can do two things. First, they will have to personally call the IRS to reconcile the wrong details at 1-800-829-1040 between 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. Second, they must update their information on the IRS portal, according to Heather Boushey of the White House.

"The IRS is doing something they've never done before," Boushey said. "If it isn't quite working out exactly as you had expected, you can go to childtaxcredit.gov and, there, you can update your information." 

Some parents who did not get a direct deposit for the July 15 rollout might find that their IRS information on the portal shows that will get a check in the mail. Others also revealed the mistakes in the amount because they did not update their details. 

Do Corrections Before Aug. 2

The next child tax credit payment will be disbursed by Aug. 13 but to avoid the same problems, parents should correct their IRS file before Aug. 2. If they have done the necessary corrections and still have delayed or incorrect payments by next month,  they should call the IRS. 

The payments will also be disbursed on Sept. 15, Oct. 15, Nov, 15 and Dec. 15. The second half of the child tax credit benefits will be distributed in a lump sum, between $1,500 to $1,800, during the tax season in April 2022. 

Related Article: Child Tax Credit Payments To Rollout Beginning July 15