There is Still Time to Claim
the Expanded Child Tax Credit
Families can STILL claim the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit until April 15, 2025. During the 2023 tax filing season individuals can get support claiming tax credits by filing tax returns at GetYourRefund.org or at a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site.
Want to help? We have materials and videos that can help families claim the credit, and that schools, state agencies, and service providers can use to help families claim it.
Ready to start helping families in your program and community to claim the Child Tax Credit?
Families can claim the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit until April 15, 2025 by filing full or amended 2021 tax returns to claim their money. During tax season (January through April), individuals can get support filing tax returns at GetYourRefund.org or at a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site. Community organizations can let families know that they can still claim their money and that there are resources available to help them do so. Below are multilingual resources to help you learn more and/or communicate to families about their eligibility and how to claim the credit.
Frequently-Used Resources
CBPP Resource: Get It Back’s Tax Credit Outreach Kit
National Disability Institute’s Resource: National Disability Institute’s Taxes and Tax Preparation
Resources for Immigrant Families
Video Explaining Fall 2022 IRS Letters
Flyers to help families confirm if they claimed the CTC on their 2021 tax returns
Claim a unique link, or URL, to GetYourRefund.org. Get your unique URL from our partners at Code for America by emailing them at: https://airtable.com/shrHvPtoDS8VzSOXN.
- Please choose a short series of letters as your unique URL (for example, the abbreviation of your organization’s name). Unique URLs will look like this: “www.GetYourRefund.org/yourURL“
- This will enable you to track your outreach efforts just for your organization and see how you have made a difference.
- You will then have access to a data dashboard where you can see how many people have signed up using your unique URL, when and how much money they have received.
Frequently Asked Questions
WHO can still claim the 2021 Expanded Child Tax Credit?
The American Rescue Plan Act expanded the 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) to almost 90% of children in the U.S., including families with no earned income, who don’t usually file tax returns. That includes grandparents and parents with disabilities living on Social Security, and families that couldn’t find work and got by on unemployment benefits and other supports. Families that already got the advance payments in 2021 must file a 2021 tax return to get the second half of their credit; families that didn’t get the advance credit can get the entire CTC by filing now. Families have until April 2025 to claim the 2021 expanded CTC by filing a prior year tax return or amended return.
WHY does it matter?
Families can receive $3,000 (kids 6 to 17) or $3,600 (under 6) per child through the 2021 credit. Families spent 2021 CTC advance payments on food and other basic needs, like housing and school expenses. Many studies have shown that additional income, like the expanded CTC, is associated with better outcomes for kids in families with low incomes, including stronger educational performance, improved health, reduced stress, and increased earnings as adults.
But these positive outcomes will only occur if families with the lowest incomes claim the credit. Kids in families with the lowest incomes are at risk of missing out on the CTC, because their parents or guardians are not required to file taxes or because they face barriers to filing.
HOW can they claim it?
Families can still claim the full 2021 CTC (or the half they are still owed if they received advance payments) by filing 2021 tax returns.
Families have until April 2025 to claim the 2021 expanded CTC by filing a prior year return or amended return.
GetYourRefund.org and most VITA sites will reopen in January 2023.
HOW can you help?
We know that partners like schools, service providers, and community organizations are best situated to serve as “trusted messengers.” You do not have to be tax experts to help families who have yet to claim the 2021 CTC, and we hope that our resources will make it easy for you to integrate CTC outreach into your existing programs and communications. With the ongoing pandemic, this assistance will be as critical as ever for families. Thank you for your work now- and always!
Have questions? Please reach out to Joseph Battistelli ([email protected]), with the Coalition on Human Needs.