Child Tax Credit: Have You Been Missing Out on The Stimulus Payments? There's Still Time For You to Sign Up!

The majority of American families received their first two advance child tax credit payments without issue while many others are still waiting. Some people are waiting because their financial information or mailing address is incorrect. However, there are a few more factors that parents may be unaware of.

In comparison to July, when the money was originally distributed, the August stimulus checks covered an additional 1.6 million children. The IRS reports that on August 13, payments totaling $15 billion were delivered to the households of nearly 61 million children. However, millions of children are still at risk of missing out.

You can still sign up for Child Tax Credit payment

There's still time to sign up for these "family stimulus checks," and latecomers will get extra payments for the remainder of the year. One of the COVID-19 relief measures contained in President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion economic stimulus plan announced in March was the expansion of the child tax credit.

It's worth up to $3,000 for children aged 6 to 17 and $3,600 for children under the age of 6. Throughout the second half of this year, households will get half of the credit through monthly payments of up to $250 or $300. The remainder will be returned to you in the form of tax refunds next year.

Per MoneyWise, families who missed their July and August payments can catch up starting in September, but they must register by August 30 at 11:59 p.m., eastern time on the IRS child tax credit update page.

Instead of being split into six payments, half of the credit will be split into four. Families will get four $375 payments for each child aged 6 to 17 and four $450 payments for children under the age of 6. Households that miss the August 30 deadline will have until October 4 to sign up to begin getting stimulus payments in October.

Households must submit their taxes to get the stimulus payments, something low-income households may not be accustomed to doing. The IRS has created a non-filer tool that will be available on the tax agency's website until October 15 for such households.

Why haven't I received a stimulus check?

Due to an IRS blunder in July, many mixed-status families utilizing an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) - when one parent is an immigrant and any eligible child has a Social Security number - did not get their first monthly stimulus payment.

According to the IRS, those families are eligible and should have received a part of the July funds along with their August payment, with any extra funds owing to be paid later. There are a few more reasons you might not have gotten a stimulus check in July or August, as per CNET via MSN:

Because your family did not submit a tax return in 2019 or 2020, the IRS is unaware that you are eligible. If that's the case, you can register for stimulus payments online using the nonfiler sign-up tool.
Even though you now have a primary residence in the United States, the IRS believes you do not qualify since you spent less than half of the year in the United States in 2019 or 2020.
After you submitted your 2020 tax return, your new baby or adopted dependent became a member of your household, and you haven't been able to update those data in the IRS system yet.
Even though your situation has altered in 2021, your household's circumstances in 2020 disqualified you. If your income was previously too high or if your custody arrangement changed, this may be the case.
Using the IRS Update Portal, you are already unenrolled from this year's advance monthly stimulus payments. If this is the case, the credit will be given to your family when you submit your taxes in 2022. If you wish to re-enroll in the monthly payment plan, you'll have until September to do so.

The time to opt-out passed on August 30, which was unfortunate for those who tried to do so. This implies that, on September 15, there will be another one. It is possible to opt-out of the October payment, which may be worthwhile if you missed it this month.

Unless you are a non-filer, your 2021 tax return might put your family above the repayment threshold since the information is taken from either your 2020 or 2019 tax return. If you choose to opt-out, you will avoid having to repay some of the money, but you will still receive what you are entitled to in April if you are still qualified, according to AS.com.