Coronavirus stimulus check: IRS has 2 portals to claim Child Tax Credit, which one to use

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The IRS will start issuing the enhanced monthly Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments starting next month. Though this payment isn’t the fourth stimulus check that people have been waiting for, it isn’t very much different from that either. Similar to coronavirus stimulus checks, most people will get it automatically. Some, however, will need to use the IRS portals to provide the agency with information needed to claim this coronavirus stimulus check.

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Coronavirus stimulus check: two portals to claim CTC

To get information from eligible recipients, the IRS will come up with two portals. The first portal is for those who have filed their 2020 or 2019 taxes, but need to provide the IRS with some updated information. This information could be a change in the number of qualifying children, change in marital status, or any significant increase or decrease in income.

Those who used the IRS’s non-filer portal last year to get the stimulus checks are considered to have filed a 2019 tax return. Such people can also use this new IRS portal. Additionally, those who don’t want to receive advance monthly payments can opt-out using this portal.

The IRS is calling this portal the Child Tax Credit Update Portal, and it will be available before July 1. As per the IRS, this portal will later allow you to check on the status of your payments and update the IRS with your current information.

The second IRS portal is for eligible non-filers and is now open. These non-filers can use this portal to provide the IRS with the requisite information it needs to evaluate eligibility. So, this means that those who haven’t filed their 2020 or 2019 tax return, didn’t use the EIP non-filer portal last year, and will meet the income eligibility requirements for the CTC, can use this second portal.

More information on Child Tax Credit

To ensure that people have access to all the latest information, the IRS has created a special Advance Child Tax Credit 2021 page at IRS.gov/childtaxcredit2021.

The White House has also come up with a new website for the child tax credit. This new website includes useful FAQs for families, information on eligibility, as well as downloadable information.

The IRS will start issuing the Child Tax Credit monthly payments from July 15 onwards. If you are eligible for the money, you will start to get up to $300 per month through December, or up to $1,800. You will also be able to claim $1,800 when you file your taxes next year.

Those with children between the ages of 6 and 17 will qualify for up to $3,000 per child. This means they will get up to $250 per month through December (totaling up to $1,500), and claim an additional amount of up to $1,500 when they file taxes next year.

Before 2021, the Child Tax Credit was up to $2,000 per eligible child, and 17 year-olds didn’t qualify for the credit.