Coronavirus Stimulus Check to Parents: Expanded Families in 2021 May Get $5,000

Published on

Lawmakers aren’t showing any interest in providing a fourth stimulus check. Still, one group of people could get as much as $5,000 in stimulus money, and this group is parents who added a new child to their family in 2021. This coronavirus stimulus check to parents, however, won’t be available automatically. Rather, such parents will have to claim this money by filing their 2021 tax return.

Get The Full Series in PDF

Get the entire 10-part series on Charlie Munger in PDF. Save it to your desktop, read it on your tablet, or email to your colleagues.

Q4 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more

$5K In Coronavirus Stimulus Check To Parents: What Is It?

Parents who had a child last year could be able to claim $5,000 from two programs, including $1,400 stimulus checks and the expanded child tax credit. Both these programs were part of the American Rescue Plan Act, which was approved in March last year.

The American Rescue Plan Act authorized the third round of stimulus checks, including a payment of $1,400 per dependent. Also, the act expanded the child tax credit to up to $3,600 for children under the age of 6 and up to $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17.

If you had a baby in 2021, it would count as a dependent for both the $1,400 dependent stimulus check and $3,600 expanded child tax credit. So, if you had a baby in 2021 but have not already claimed these payments, then you could be eligible for this $5,000 coronavirus stimulus check to parents.

It is very likely that you wouldn’t have claimed this money last year. This is because the IRS wouldn't have known about your new child when it was sending these two payments out.

Moreover, those who added an older dependent last year, such as parents adopting a child over the age of 6, would also be eligible for the coronavirus stimulus check to parents, but of a lesser amount. Such parents would qualify for the $1,400 in stimulus check and up to $3,000 in expanded child tax credit (a total of $4,400).

Similarly, parents who added more than one child last year would be able to claim the money for each child. For instance, if you had twins last year and claimed no money for them in 2021, then you could be eligible for as much as $10,000 this year.

How To Claim

To claim this coronavirus stimulus check to parents, you will have to file your 2021 tax return. The IRS has now started accepting tax returns.

If you are eligible for this stimulus money, then it will help you to lower your tax liability, or will be added to your tax refund. The fastest way to get the refund (and the stimulus money in this case) will be to file your tax return as soon as possible and request the IRS to send the refund to your bank account directly.

Apart from parents, those who somehow missed the stimulus payments last year will also be able to claim it by filing their 2021 tax return.