Change to monthly $300 child tax credit payments to affect 30million families this month – here’s why

MILLIONS of families this month will NOT receive a monthly payment for the first time since July.

Due to Congress's failure to pass an extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit, over 30million families that might have gotten used to the monthly $300 payments did not see another round on January 15.

Democrats temporarily expanded the child tax credit early last year as part of President Joe Biden's coronavirus relief package, the American Rescue Plan.

Households with children who were eligible for the $1,400 stimulus check in March 2021 qualified for the credit.

Under the expansion, Democrats removed work requirements for the credit and allowed eligible recipients to access half of the credit amount via monthly payments.

The maximum credit amount was raised to $3,600 for children under the age of six, and $3,000 for children ages six to 17.

Those with dependents enrolled in college full-time between the ages of 18 and 24 received $500 for each.

The final payments were sent to eligible parents from December 15.

President Biden had expressed hope in renewing the child tax credit payments as part of his Build Back Better legislation.

In a turn of events, Senator Joe Manchin opposed the $1.9trillion Build Back Better Plan.

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

The Democrats needed all 50 senators to vote in favor of the legislation to pass.

With the legislation, the payments would have been extended for another year, giving families up to $3,600 per child.

However, the legislation does not have a path forward without the Democratic Senator's vote.

The Biden administration still hasn’t given up on the Build Back Better plan, officials say.

It's possible that the bill could be broken up into smaller pieces of legislation and passed bit by bit.

How to recover missing payments

In the meantime, families preparing for tax season will have the chance to recover missed child tax credit payments from 2021 when they file taxes this year.

The IRS is sending out a letter to CTC recipients this month with the exact amount each family received through the expanded Child Tax Credit.

The IRS was delayed in sending out some payments--for example, many families saw September CTC payments delayed.

On the IRS Child Tax Credit portal, parents can see if the payment has been sent or processed at all in the Processed Payments section.

In order to check this information, users should make sure to have their IRS username and ID.me account information ready.

Once it's confirmed that the payment is missing, taxpayers will be able to claim the missed advance as well as the second half of the credit when they submit their taxes this year.

Parents will reconcile the missing advance payment in their taxes by filling out a "Form 8812" with the IRS.

We explain five ways you can try to replace the child tax credit payments.