Last Chance to Sign Up for Child Tax Credit Payments; Get $1800 Lump Sum in December

The Child Tax Credit payments and its official website GetCTC.org will only be available until Monday, November 15. This is the last chance for eligible families to sign up for the $3,600 payments.

Note that if they sign up now, they will receive the CTC payment in one large check.

In March, the American Rescue Plan issued the Child Tax Credit program which grants $2,000 to $3,000 payments to families with dependents. According to CNBC, the program also adds a $600 bonus for dependents under age 6 for the 2021 tax year. Families with two children can receive up to $7,200 depending on their circumstances.

It is important to remember that half of the Child Tax Credit is delivered as advance payment. These are $300 monthly payments between July to December.

Child Tax Credit Payments Eligibility and Requirements

According to the IRS, Americans who filed their 2019 or 2020 tax returns and registered their dependents should have automatically received their Child Tax Credit payments via paper check or direct deposit. As previously mentioned, the first payment should have arrived by July. Child Tax Credit payments typically drop every 15th of the month.

The second half of the payment is to be delivered after the tax filing next year.

How to Sign Up for CTC Payments

CNBC pointed out that many families do not file their taxes because they do not earn enough. Ironically, these are the families that best qualify for the CTC payments. The IRS urges them to sign up for the program.

Otis Rolley, senior vice president of the US equity and economic opportunity initiative at the Rockefeller Foundation, told CNBC that "we would hate for money to be left on the table when people are hungry, when people have housing insecurities, food insecurities."

This is why the agency launched the GetCTC.org webpage, which registers eligible families for their missing stimulus payments even without the tax documents.

Families who register now can receive their Child Tax Credit in one lump sum because of the catch-up system. This means that all the payments since July will be accumulated in the incoming December payment. The government wants to ensure that everybody eligible for the program can receive their Child Tax Credit payment.

However, there might also be families who want their Child Tax Credit in a lump sum.

How to Get Child Tax Credit Lump Sum

Families who plan to recieve the Child Tax Credit payment in a lump sum next year can opt to ignore this December deadline. However, be warned: they have to deal with new eligibility requirements and IRS delays on 2022. It might be better to receive the first half of the payment now, especially since it is already a sizable sum.

Remember that the deadline is on Monday. Families who miss out on this deadline will have no choice but to wait for the 2022 season.