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If you’re wondering where to pay your August or July child tax credit, you are not alone. Some families are still waiting for the monthly checks worth up to $ 300 per child, although the good news is that these delays are temporary for most people. Here’s a look at what’s going on.
Where are your child tax deductions paid?
The checks are part of an increased child discount of up to $ 3,600 per child, with half of that amount qualifying upfront on the 15th, check out this Lifehacker post). The problem is, some families haven’t seen their payments yet for the following reasons:
- Normal post office delays: If you receive your payment as a check in the mail, there may be a delay of up to four weeks, even with a standard address. If you use mail forwarding or have a foreign address, this can take even longer, up to nine weeks.
- Your August payment was sent by check even if you were expecting a direct deposit: A disruption in payments for 5.4 million families means they will receive their payment in the mail even if they received their first check by direct deposit. If this is the case for you, you may encounter typical snail post delays. The IRS says the glitch is temporary and that direct deposits should resume in September.
- Your July payment was missed so this amount will be added to your remaining payments: The IRS says that some families who did not receive a July payment will still receive their full upfront payment for the year. This means that the total payment will be spread over five months instead of six, making each monthly payment larger. For these families, each payment is increased up to $ 360 per month for each child under 6 years of age and up to $ 300 per month for each child 6 to 17 years of age.
- Either you are not entitled to the benefit or the checks are simply missing: If you haven’t received your July or August payments, use the IRS Authorization Assistant Tool to see if you are eligible for the benefit. Pro CNETIf you added a child to your family in 2021, they may not be covered by the IRS as they use information from your 2020 tax return (you can find this in their Child tax credit portal). Finally, it’s also possible that your checks simply disappeared.
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How to confirm your child tax break status
How to check the status of your payment in Child tax credit portal, go to the Payments Processed section. If you are waiting for your payment and the portal says it is “pending” it means the check should come soon. If the status says a payment has been delivered but you haven’t received it, make sure your address and bank details are correct.
If the portal shows a processed payment and you don’t receive it, you can try the following: a Payment tracking, this is a request to find out what happened to your money. A trace can take up to six weeks to process, so don’t use this option until enough time has passed, as follows:
- Direct deposit: five days
- Check by mail to a standard address: four weeks
- Check by mail to a forwarding address: six weeks
- Postal check to a foreign address: nine weeks
If none of this works, in the worst case scenario, you will have to claim the full credit later as part of your 2021 tax return. For more information on the child allowance, see Check out this IRS FAQ.
