Will you get $300 child tax payments?

Monthly $300 payments are in the works for California families struggling to make ends meet.

The IRS begins the roll-out of the Child Tax Credit on July 15 as part of the American Rescue Plan. Qualifying households will receive up to $3,600 annually per child, which will benefit families across the state.

What to know about the Child Tax Credit payments

The IRS will pay half of the total credit amount in advance through monthly payments for the rest of the year. The government will pay the other half next year after tax season.

Families earning $150,000 or less can expect between $2,000

and $3,000 a year per child up to age 17 and up to $3,600 for kids under 6.

There is no application process; families that filed taxes in 2019 or 2020 will automatically be enrolled. Non-filers that already signed up for the Economic Impact Payments will also be automatically enrolled.

Those that didn’t earn enough to be required to file taxes can still sign up for the Child Tax Credit on the IRS website.

Children of undocumented parents can also qualify for the Child Tax Credit under two requirements: The child must have

a Social Security number issued before May 17, 2021, and undocumented parents or guardians must have an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number or an ITIN.

Families can see how much they qualify for by answering a few questions on the IRS CTC Eligibility Assistant page.

Anti-poverty effort

Supporters of the CTC and the American Rescue Plan describe it as a oncein-a-generation anti-poverty effort that they say will lift over half of American children out of poverty, including in California.

Nationwide, over 1 million immigrant children are not eligible for this benefit because of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Supporters of the tax credit say that while the temporary benefit will help families take care of basic needs like food, rent, and transportation, many households risk slipping back into poverty when the tax credit ends.

Push for permanent child tax credit expansion

The statewide coalition, Keep Families Afloat, says a permanent CTC benefit would drastically cut poverty. They also say Congress should remove the social security number requirement so that all families who need the credit can get it.

A poll conducted in late June by Data for Progress and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income found that most likely voters surveyed said they supported making the CTC expansion permanent, with about 74% of Democrats expressing support, along with 57% of independent voters and about one-third of Republicans.

The poll also found that most voters surveyed said they support a guaranteed income program.

Melissa Montalvo is a reporter with The Fresno Bee and a Report for America corps member. This article is part of The California Divide, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequity and economic survival in California.