Thousands of families to get less in child tax credit for the rest of the year – here’s why

SOME families will get less in child tax credits for the rest of the year due to a glitch with the September payment.

The IRS paid around 35million families advance child tax credits worth a collective $15billion on September 15.

This was then followed by a similar amount on Friday, October 15, but some families will have noticed they received less than before.

This is because some families were overpaid in September after the glitch first delayed the payments for them.

This affected around 2% of recipients, which is roughly 700,000 families.

"Some of these cases" will now get slightly smaller payments for October, November and December to adjust for the overpayment, the IRS has said.

It hasn't yet told The Sun exactly how many it applies to, but even just 1% of 700,000 families means 7,000 could be affected.

For each taxpayer receiving payment, the typical overpayment was $31.25 per child between six and 17 and $37.50 per child under six.

This will result in about a $10 to $13 reduction per child in the monthly payments for October, November and December.

Affected families mainly include those taxpayers who recently updated their information using the IRS child tax credit update portal.

In particular, the issue impacted married taxpayers filing jointly where only one spouse made a bank account or address change.

The IRS said letters will be sent to affected individuals.

It added in a statement: "The IRS continues to closely monitor this program and the agency appreciates the patience of those whose payments were affected."

The child tax credits are worth $3,600 per child under six in 2021, $3,000 per child between six and 17 and $500 for college students aged up to 24.

However, they're automatically issued as advance monthly installments for kids aged up to 17.

These are worth between $250 and $300 between July and December, with the remaining half paid out once the IRS has processed 2021 tax returns.

We explain what to do if you haven't had the October payment at all.

Plus, we round up the best ways to spend child tax credits - from paying off debt to investing.