Warning you MUST sign up for advance child tax credit by certain date – or risk missing out on payments

TIME is running out for people to sign up for advance child tax credit – and missing the deadline means you could miss out on payments.

So far, millions of families with kids have received three monthly payments since July amounting to $45billion in total through the child tax credit plan.

Families with eligible children though only have a couple of months left to sign up if they didn’t get the checks automatically.

Anyone wanting to register via the IRS non-filer portal has until the end of October 15 to do so, meaning there is just under a month left.

“If parents haven’t already gotten the payment and they’re eligible for it, it’s not too late to sign up,” said Ashley Burnside, a policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy. “They can use the IRS portal, that’s still an option.”

After that, families can still use GetCTC.org, which was launched by Code for America along with the US Department of the Treasury and the White House.

People wanting to use this site will be able to do so until mid-November, according to a Treasury official, CNBC reports.

Anyone enrolling for the credit now will see larger remaining payments than those who have been getting them monthly since July, when the checks began.

This is because the monthly money is an advance on a 2021 tax credit, half to be delivered this year and the rest to follow when families file their taxes next year.

The child tax credit was expanded in March thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which added advance monthly payments and increased the benefit by $1,000 to $3,000 with a $600 bonus for kids under the age of 6 for the 2021 tax year.

HOW MUCH FAMILIES COULD GET

This means that for a family with two children aged 5 and 7, who are eligible for the full credit, they would get $6,000 - $3,000 for the 7-year-old plus $3,600 for the 5-year-old.

If the family had filed a tax return in 2019 or 2020 and had a direct deposit, the family started receiving the first $3,300 of the credit in six monthly payments of $550 that will last from July to December.

Read our Child tax credit live blog for the very latest news and updates...

If the family missed the July payment but signed up in August they would still get $3,300 before December.

“Families who did not get a July or August payment and are getting their first monthly payment in September will still receive their total advance payment for the year of up to $1,800 for each child under age 6 and up to $1,500 for each child ages 6 through 17,” the IRS said in a September 15 statement, coinciding with the third monthly payment going out to families.

“This means that the total payment will be spread over four months, rather than six, making each monthly payment larger. For these families, each payment is up to $450 per month for each child under age 6 and up to $375 per month for each child ages 6 through 17,” the agency said.

Anyone waiting to sign up through the Code of America site in November will get the entire first half of the credit in one check in December.

FAMILIES URGES TO SIGN UP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

If a family fails to sign up for the new child tax credit this year they will miss out on advance payments but can still get the money in a lump sum next year.

To get the credit, though, they will have to file a 2021 tax return.

Experts say everyone with an eligible child should sign up as soon as they can, unless they are part of a family that knows they want to opt out and receive the benefit in a lump sum next year.

“We would hate for money to be left on the table when people are hungry, when people have housing insecurities, food insecurities,” said Otis Rolley, senior vice president of the U.S. equity and economic opportunity initiative at the Rockefeller Foundation.

Democrats are currently working on a plan to pass legislation that would, if successful, see the enhanced credit continued in the coming years.