Taxpayers should have started receiving IRS Letter 6419, 2021 advance CTC, in January. The advance child tax credit payments letter helps taxpayers get the remainder of their 2021 tax credit. It includes the total amount of advance child tax credit payments taxpayers received in 2021 and the number of qualifying children used to calculate the advance payments.
Do not throw this letter away. The letter will help taxpayers and their tax preparers reconcile and receive all the 2021 child tax credits to which they are entitled on your 2021 tax return. Families who received advance payments need to file a 2021 tax return and compare the advance payments they received in 2021 with the amount of the child tax credit they can properly claim on their 2021 tax return.
Eligible families who did not receive any advance child tax credit payments can claim the full amount of the child tax credit on their 2021 federal tax return. This includes families who don’t normally need to file a tax return.
Taxpayers who received the advance payments can also check the amount of their payments by using the CTC Update Portal available on IRS.gov. If you have any questions about this and other COVID-19-related tax relief, help is just a phone call away.