PA Taxpayers With Kids Eligible For Monthly Tax Credit Payments

PENNSYLVANIA — Most Pennsylvania taxpayers with children will start receiving monthly payments beginning July 15 as part of the federal American Rescue Plan approved earlier this year.

The enhanced Child Tax Credit will expand the child tax credit from $2,000 per child up to $3,600 per child. Half of the credit will be divided into six payments that will be paid out in cash starting next month.

Taxpayers will receive monthly payments of $300 per month for children between ages 0 and 5 and $250 for children aged 6 to 17.

The payments will continue monthly through the end of the year, with the remainder of the tax credit being applied to your 2021 tax bill. The total allowed under the Child Tax Credit is $3,600 for children 0 to 5 and $3,000 for children 6 to 17.

Families qualify for the enhanced credit if their income is below $75,000 for single filers, $112,000 for people filing as head of household and $150,000 for people who are married and filing jointly.

Those making more than that will qualify for part of the enhanced credit. The regular child tax credit of $2,000 will still be available to single parents who earn up to $200,000 and married couples who earn up to $400,000.

In most cases, payments will be sent automatically. You do not need to take any action if you filed tax returns in 2019 or 2020, or if signed up to receive a stimulus check from the Internal Revenue Service. The payments will be sent via direct deposit. If the IRS does not have your direct deposit information, a check will be mailed.

Families who did not file a tax return for 2019 or 2020 and who did not use the IRS Non-filers tool last year to sign up for the Economic Impact Payments, should go online and use the IRS Child Tax Credit Non-filer Sign-up Tool to sign up.

Nationwide, roughly 39 million households — covering almost 90 percent of children in the United States — will begin getting this relief automatically.

With reporting by Dave Copeland