First 2021 Child Tax Credit Payments Go Out on July 15

Eligible families with children 17 years old or younger will get their first Child Tax Credit payments by direct deposit or paper check in the coming days. The monthly credits start going out on July 15.

Authorized by President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan, the new Child Tax Credit gives up to $3,600 per year for each child under 6 and up to $3,000 per year for children 6 to 17. Single taxpayers earning less than $75,000 per year and joint filers earning less than $150,000 qualify for the full amount, although single taxpayers earning less than $95,000 and joint filers earning less than $170,000 will still get some money. The payments aren’t taxed because they're tax credits.

If the IRS already has your bank account information for tax refund purposes, you’ll get the Child Tax Credit as a direct deposit. “If you are a taxpayer and get your refund electronically deposited into your bank account, that’s how you’ll get the CTC,” Mark Steber, Jackson Hewitt’s chief tax information officer, explained to CBS News.

If the IRS doesn’t yet have your bank account information but you want the Child Tax Credit as a direct deposit, you can use IRS Child Tax Credit Update Portal to give the agency your bank account information. The IRS currently notes that any updates to your bank account information will apply to the monthly payments starting with the August payment.

Of course, if the IRS doesn’t have your bank account information and you prefer not to provide it, the IRS will mail you a paper check.

According to the IRS, the monthly payments will be disbursed on July 15, Aug. 13, Sept. 15, Oct. 15, Nov. 15, and Dec. 15.

If you’re getting your credit by direct deposit, you can expect the money within two to three business days of each disbursement date, Steber told CBS News. He explained that there’s a “lag time” between the IRS releasing the money and the money hitting your bank account.

If you’re getting your credit by paper check, Steber said to expect the check within one to two weeks after each disbursement date.

Soon, you will be able to check the status of your Child Tax Credit payments via the Child Tax Credit Update Portal, which is a “secure, password-protected tool, available to any eligible family with internet access and a smartphone or computer,” the IRS explains on a help page.

The portal “is designed to enable them to manage their Child Tax Credit accounts,” the IRS adds. “Right now, this includes updating their bank account information with the IRS or unenrolling from monthly payments. Soon, it will allow people to check on the status of their payments. Later this year, the tool will also enable them to make other status updates and be available in Spanish.”