The Advance Child Tax Credit Portal has finally arrived and I'm going to walk you through every step. If you have questions about what the Advance Child Tax Credit is and if you qualify, check out my prior blog post covering all the details. 

What You Need To Know

The IRS will begin issuing the Advance Child Tax Credits on July 15th. If you do not wish to receive them, you must opt out. See below for step by step guides on how to do that.

You should opt out if you have a child under the age of 18 and expect your 2021 income to be higher than the following thresholds:

Married Filing Jointly: $150,000
Head of Household: $112,500
Single: $75,000

For the opt out to be granted, you need to have it processed 3 days before the first Thursday of the month. That's June 27, 2021 if you don't want any payments. If you missed that deadline, you will receive the first advance, but can still opt out of all future payments.

Once you opt out, it is permanent. You cannot opt back in.

If you...

Kids. They are cutest sweetest little things. And also, really expensive.

In March 2021 a new stimulus bill was passed. Part of that bill included the Additional Child Tax Credit Advance. Before we talk about the advance, we should talk about the regular child tax credit. The child tax credit has taken on many different forms, but most recently it's been a $2,000 payment per child up to 3 children. Part of the pandemic relief includes changing the amount of child tax credit. In 2021, instead of $2,000 per child, families can receive up to $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for children from 6 to 17 years old. 

Normally the child tax credit is a big windfall on the tax return. For 2021, Congress is trying something different. Instead of having to wait until 2022 to claim the entire amount on your tax return, they are going to make partial payments during 2021.

When Will the Payments Be Made?

Payments will be made monthly between July and December 2021, with the first...