Tax Season Is Over. Where's Your Child Tax Credit Refund?

If you filed your taxes by the April 15 deadline, you can finally stop stressing and start keeping an eye out for your child tax credit money. If it’s been more than 21 days since you filed with the IRS, it may be time to check the status of your tax return online.

Note that your refund could be delayed because you claimed the child tax credit or the earned income tax credit, which takes a bit longer to process. By law, the IRS couldn’t begin sending tax refunds to those claiming the credits until the middle of February at the earliest.

With lots of news around the child tax credit this year — including 16 states that also have a credit, and Congress working on an expanded credit — we’ll explain when you can expect your refund if you’re claiming a credit. For more, here’s our essential cheat sheet for filing this year. Still need to file your taxes? Here’s how to file for free. 

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What is the child tax credit and additional child tax credit?

The child tax credit is a tax break families can receive if they have qualifying children. The amount a family can receive is up to $2,000 per child, but it’s only partially refundable. That means if not all is applied to any taxes you owe to lower your tax bill, you may not receive the additional money left over. 

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The refundable portion is called the additional child tax credit, and this year the refundable amount is $1,600. 

When to expect your child tax credit refund

For early filers, the IRS told CNET that most child tax credit and earned income tax credit refunds would be available in bank accounts or on debit cards by Feb. 27 for taxpayers who have filed and chose direct deposit — and there are no other issues with their return. 

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Why Feb. 27? According to the IRS, the agency cannot issue refunds involving the additional child tax credit (and the earned income tax credit) before mid-February. The agency, by law, is required to use the extra time to prevent fraudulent refunds.

If you haven’t received your money yet and you’re claiming the credit, you should be able to see your projected deposit date by checking the IRS’ Where’s My Refund tool. 

For more tax information, here’s why you should file as soon as possible. Also, here’s how to submit your tax return to the IRS for free.