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Big Increase in Child Tax Credit For 2021
Article Highlights:
- Additional Credit Amounts
- Refundability
- High-Income Phaseout
- Advance Payments
- Reconciliation of Advance Payments with Credit
- Child’s Death
- Online Portal
Here are the details.
- Additional Credit Amounts – Normally, the credit is $2,000 per eligible child. For 2021, it has increased to $3,000 for each child under age 18 (normally under age 17) and $3,600 for children under age 6 at the end of the year.
- Refundability – A tax credit can be either nonrefundable or refundable. Nonrefundable credits can only offset a taxpayer’s tax liability, at most bringing it down to zero, while a refundable credit offsets the tax liability and any credit amount in excess of the liability is refunded to the taxpayer. Generally, the child tax credit is nonrefundable, but for 2021, it is fully refundable.
- High-Income Phaseout – The credit is designed to only provide parents of lower incomes with a tax benefit. Thus, the credit phases out for higher-income taxpayers at a rate of $50 for each $1,000 (or fraction thereof) by which the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) exceeds the threshold.
2021 MAGI PHASEOUT – CHILD TAX CREDITFiling Status Threshold Married Filing Jointly 150,000 Heads of Household 112,500 Others 75,000
Example 1: Jack and Jill have two children—Ella, age 4, and Joe, age 8. Their child tax credit for 2021 before the phaseout will be $6,600 ($3,600 + 3,000). They file a joint return and their AGI is below $150,000, so they are entitled to the full $6,600. However, if their AGI for 2021 is $170,000, they would have to reduce (phase out) the credit by $1,000 ($50 x [($170,000-$150,000)/1,000]). Thus, their child tax credit would be $5,600.
Advance Payments – Under a special provision included in the new tax law, to get the credit benefit into the hands of taxpayers as quickly as possible, the Secretary of the Treasury has been charged with establishing an advance payment plan. Under this mandate, those qualifying for the credit would receive monthly payments equal to 1⁄12 of the amount the IRS estimates the taxpayer would be entitled to by using the information on the 2020 return. If the 2020 return has not been filed, the 2019 information is to be used. If the 2019 return is used to determine the advance payments, the amount of the payments can be altered (either reduced or increased) when the 2020 return is filed. The initial advance payment won’t arrive before July 1, 2021, and monthly payments would end in December 2021. Any balance of the credit due to a taxpayer would be claimed on their 2021 tax return.
- Reconciliation on the 2021 Tax Return - The advance payments will reduce the child tax credit claimed on the tax return, but not below zero. If the aggregate amount of the advance payments to the taxpayer exceeds the amount of the allowable credit, the excess must be repaid unless the taxpayer meets the safe harbor test.
- No Repayment Safe Harbor – The amount of the excess advance repayment is eliminated or reduced based on a safe harbor that applies to lower-income taxpayers. Thus, families with a 2021 MAGI below the applicable income threshold (see table below) will not have to repay any advance credit overpayments that they receive.
SAFE HARBOR APPLICABLE MAGIFiling Status Threshold Married Filing Joint 60,000 Heads of Household 50,000 Others 40,000
Online Portal – The Secretary of the Treasury will establish an online portal for taxpayers to elect to not receive advance payments or provide information that would affect the amount of the advance payment, including the birth of a qualifying dependent, change in marital status or significant changes in income.
It will take the Treasury some time to initiate the advance payments, but if you have questions about the child tax credit, please give this office a call.
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