Moving the tax-filing deadline to May 17 from April 15 may have compromised the ability of the IRS to implement a new child tax credit program.
The child tax credit payments authorized in the latest Covid relief bill may not be sent monthly and may not even start in July, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11 contained a significant expansion of the child tax credit. Under the law, families will receive a $3,000 annual benefit per child ages 6 to 17 and $3,600 per child under the age of 6 for the 2021 tax year. The payments to families were slated to begin in July and intended to be sent monthly, instead of as a lump sum, as House Democrats proposed. But that might not happen, especially now that the IRS has extended the tax-filing season for individuals to May 17 from April 15, Rettig said during a Thursday hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee. That’s because the IRS now has less time to devote to implementing and launching a portal for the program, which it must do by July 1, Rettig said.
