Did you or someone you know get Child Tax Credit monthly payments in 2021? Wondering why you’re missing the Child Tax Credit in January 2022?

As part of the 2021 American Rescue Plan for COVID relief, Congress expanded the Child Tax Credit so that it would benefit roughly 90 percent of American kids and established advanced monthly payments. These monthly payments have been giving parents much needed wiggle-room when it comes to caring for kids in this changing economy.

So why have the payments stopped? Maybe you or someone you know has been among the millions of parents who breathed easier each month with the CTC’s help to cover groceries, health and child care expenditures. Unfortunately the monthly payments are now missing because the Senate so far has failed to renew them. And too many parents won’t know it until they’ve checked their bank accounts after January 15th.

So what can you do right now? While families are missing the Child Tax Credit in January 2022, there’s still a few things you can do to get the rest of your credit and help get the monthly payments reinstated:

• • First of all: Make sure you get the full credit when you file your taxes this year:
    • Sign up at this link here to be alerted when free tax services (including in-person, virtual and do-it-yourself options) are available this month
    • Get your documents ready for tax filing- you can find a list here.

• Important: even if you do not typically file taxes or do not have recent income, you’ll need to file this year in order to claim the full 2021 Child Tax Credit, and potentially other benefits
• Tell your Senators to vote to make the monthly payments permanent! The Senate has dropped the ball this time. But President Biden wants these Child Tax Credit monthly payments to be made permanent. So take the action above and tell your Senators to get this across the finish line. And you can do a lot of good by telling them exactly how you or someone you know has benefited from these monthly payments.

Here is CHN’s latest blog post on CTC expansion.