to encourage people to send their 2021 tax return forms to the IRS, including those whose incomes are so low that they might not have traditionally filed.
The event also included several lawmakers and nonprofits. There are plans to hold events in all 50 states and Puerto Rico during the tax filing season, according to the Associated Press, citing an anonymous White House official.The expanded program, passed in 2021 as part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, boosted the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $3,000 for every child ages 6 to 17, and up to $3,600 for every child under the age of 6.
It essentially advanced some tax relief that would normally come the following year when parents file their taxes. Instead, most eligible families started receiving payments on a monthly basis starting— meaning that there are six months worth of payments waiting to be claimed by people filing their taxes.
Eligibility for the expanded Child Tax Credit program included people earning $75,000 or less, married couples making $150,000 or less, and a single parent filing as the head of household making up to $112,500. Studies have suggested that the child tax credit expansions could cut child poverty by 40% — with 9 of 10 American children benefiting, according to an analysis fromVice President Kamala Harris spoke in Pittsburgh on Child Tax Credit Awareness Day on June 21, 2021, a day intended to make Americans know about the monthly payments starting July 15.