December 14, 2021
The final monthly child tax credit payment will be officially issued to qualified parents tomorrow December 15. (some of you are already seeing it in your account)
I’m going to explain why this will be the last one in a second but first…
For those parents who meet the financial qualifications and whose children are no older than 17 years old, for most – your payment will be in your bank account through a direct deposit, and for everyone else who qualifies, you’ll get a paper check in the mail.
For some of you this December payment will be bigger than normal. The IRS says that’s because it *may* include a payment that you were missing. Importantly, even if you are missing a payment that doesn’t automatically mean it’ll be lumped together with your December payment. You may have to instead claim the missing payment on your 2021 taxes after you receive letter 6419 in early January. If you don’t know about that letter, go watch this video I posted yesterday.
Now – why is this the last monthly child tax credit payment?
Because these monthly payments were a result of the American Rescue Stimulus package passed earlier this year. But that law said the monthly child tax credit program expired at the end of 2021. And now, we’re here.
Lawmakers have crafted a law that would extend the monthly child tax credit program. That law is wrapped up in the build back better bill. And so far, as I have reported that bill has passed the house but is currently stalled in the senate.
If or when it passes I’ll let you know.
PLUS
Welp, we won’t have to worry about the federal government defaulting on our national debt for at least the next year.
That’s because tonight, both the House and the Senate passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion. That should keep the federal government from defaulting until 2023. ..after the mid-term elections. As I’ve told you from the beginning raising the debt ceiling does *not* authorize any new spending, it just allows the Treasury Department to borrow what it needs to pay the bills Congress has already racked up over several presidential administrations.
The vote in the House was 220 to 212. And in the Senate, the final vote was 50 to 49 – both were straight along party lines. You may remember last week when I told you in these two videos about the complicated deal reached by Senate Democrat and Republican leadership to allow this bill to pass with a simple majority instead of the normal 60 votes.
The bill now goes to the President to sign which he is expected to do before the government defaults tomorrow.
