BALTIMORE (WBFF) — The American Rescue Plan authorized a lot of money to be sent to the American people in various ways. When President Joe Biden signed the bill into law in March, $1,400 payments were sent directly to most people. The bill also delivered money to people suffering from the economic effects of COVID-19 in other ways. One of the things the bill did was to expand the federal Child Tax Credit and make the first half of that credit payable directly to families.

As of right now, the payment coming on Dec.15 is the last check that families will get.

Families will receive a direct deposit or a check for each child. The amount will depend on how old the child is and how much money you earn.

Some parents will get:

• $300 for each child under 6 years old
• $250 for each child between 6 and 17 years old

There are limits as to who gets the money. Individuals making $75,000 or less or married couples filing jointly who make $150,000 or less will get the full amount.

The total amount of the tax credit is $3,600 for children under 6 years old and $3,000 for children aged 6 to 17. When this payment arrives, people will have received exactly half of that amount ($1,800 and $1,500 respectively). The second half of the expanded Child Tax Credit will be coming when people file taxes in 2022.

People who do not normally file a tax return are still eligible to receive this tax credit. It may be too late to get a payment in December, but they can get get the full amount by notifying the IRS in 2022, if they qualify.

Some people will be getting the full first half of the credit when the money comes next week. People who had not been receiving the payments for the previous 5 months but who chose and qualified for the December payment will get the money all at once — $1,800 for a child under 6 years old, and $1,500 for a child between 6 and 17. In order to receive the payment from the previous months, people would have had to notify the IRS by Nov. 15.

The future of those payments is still up in the air. The Build Back Better plan proposed by Biden is stuck in Congress. The President wanted the expanded credit to be extended for another year. It passed the House of Representatives but the Senate is still considering it. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., had proposed an income test for the expanded credit.

Written by WBFF Staff