Advance Child Tax Credit Payments

Today, the federal government will mail the first of more than 25 million checks for tax savings brought about by the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the checks represent an advance of this year’s child tax credit increase and will go to most parents who claimed the credit on their 2002 returns. You can access the IRS’s mailing schedule and other information here. Also, the IRS has a nifty feature to let taxpayers know the amount and mailing date of their advance payment checks. Click on “Where’s My Advance Child Tax Credit?” and enter the information requested to check on the status of a payment. The status check will also tell if a payment may be reduced because of taxes owed or an outstanding non-tax federal debt, or why a taxpayer with a child does not qualify for an advance payment. This Web feature should have information for a taxpayer about 11 days before the check mailing date. Currently, the information covers taxpayers whose checks will be mailed this week and next, as well as taxpayers who have children but are not eligible for an advance payment. By July 28, it should have information for all taxpayers included in the initial mailings. The system will be updated weekly with data from returns as they are processed.