Gottheimer Announces New, Boosted Child Tax Credit Claws Federal Tax Dollars Back to NJ to Help Thousands of Families

Press Conference

NORTH JERSEY -- This week, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced how the newly boosted Child Tax Credit will help thousands of North Jersey families as they recover from the pandemic and help parents cover the costs of food, diapers, healthcare, and clothing for their children. Beginning July 15th, qualifying families will begin receiving Monthly Child Tax Credit dollars through the end of this year.

Nearly all families should get their Child Tax Credit automatically -- with no further action required. Families who did not file a tax return for 2019 or 2020 and who did not use the IRS Non-filers tool last year to sign up for direct Economic Impact Payments, should go online and use the IRS Child Tax Credit Non-filer Sign-up Tool to sign up today.

Key Benefits for North Jersey from the boosted Child Tax Credit:

An estimated 57% of children in New Jersey's Fifth District will directly benefit from this boosted Child Tax Credit -- that's 96,200 Fifth District children.

The average benefit for 32,900 Fifth District households will be $2,300 each.

This boosted Child Tax Credit will help lift thousands of Fifth District children out of poverty.
"Helping our families and children get back to life after the pandemic, lifting children out of poverty, and clawing more of our federal tax dollars back to Jersey, should not be a Democrat or Republican issue," said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5)."As part of the American Rescue Plan, we clawed back a new tax cut for New Jersey families -- the expanded Child Tax Credit -- to help parents and children recover from the pandemic, care for their families, help cover the costs of food, diapers, healthcare, and clothing; and to help our community move forward, out of the pandemic, together."

Gottheimer made this week's announcement with CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lower Bergen County, Joe Licata, at their Lodi Boys & Girls Club location.

How Much is the Child Tax Credit Boost from the American Rescue Plan?

The American Rescue Plan boosted the Child Tax Credit to up to $3,600 per child for children ages 0 to 5 and $3,000 per child for children ages 6 to 17.

The American Rescue Plan also authorized an upfront advance of the Child Tax Credit through December 2021. Beginning in July and running through December, qualifying families can qualify for up to:

$300 a month per child for children ages 0 to 5.
$250 a month per child for children ages 6 to 17.
Families can access the remaining boosted Child Tax Credit when they file their 2021 tax return.

Who Qualifies?

Families will qualify for a full credit if their income is below $75,000 for single filers, $112,000 for people filing as head of household, or $150,000 for people who are married and filing jointly.

How Do I Get My Payment?

Nearly all hardworking families should get their monthly payments automatically beginning July 15th with no further action required. If you've filed tax returns for 2019 or 2020, or if you signed up to receive a stimulus check from the Internal Revenue Service, you will get this tax relief automatically. You do not need to sign up or take any action.
Families who did not file a tax return for 2019 or 2020 and who did not use the IRS Non-filers tool last year to sign up for the Economic Impact Payments, should go online and use the IRS Child Tax Credit Non-filer Sign-up Tool to sign up today.
Families who got their refunds from the IRS through direct deposit will get these payments in their bank account around the 15th of every month until the end of 2021. People who don't use direct deposit will receive their payment by mail around the same time.
Families will be able to determine their eligibility, check the status of their payments and more atIRS.gov/childtaxcredit2021 later this month.
Watch out for scams

According to IRS.gov: "The IRS urges everyone to be on the lookout for scams related to both Advance Child Tax Credit payments and Economic Impact Payments. The IRS emphasized that the only way to get either of these benefits is by either filing a tax return with the IRS or registering online through the Non-filer Sign-up tool, exclusively on IRS.gov. Any other option is a scam.

Watch out for scams using email, phone calls or texts related to the payments. Be careful and cautious: The IRS never sends unsolicited electronic communications asking anyone to open attachments or visit a non-governmental web site."

Gottheimer's full remarks as prepared for delivery are below.

I'm here today because we all know that the past year hasn't been an easy time for our country, or for many New Jersey families -- and because we need to continue our work to get more money back in the wallets of hardworking North Jersey families -- especially as we try to rebound from the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis.

Today, I'm announcing that help is here, as part of what I fought hard for to get more COVID-19 relief back to Jersey. As part of the American Rescue Plan, we clawed back a new tax cut for New Jersey families -- the expanded Child Tax Credit -- to help parents and children recover from the pandemic, care for their families, help cover the costs of food, diapers, healthcare, and clothing; and to help our community move forward, out of the pandemic, together. In total, nearly 100,000 children -- nearly 60 percent of all kids in the Fifth District -- will benefit from this critical boost to the Child Tax Credit.

It's fair to say that the pandemic struck northern New Jersey particularly hard, literally crushing our way of life, overnight. People were out of work. Most -- except for our brave frontline workers -- were forced to stay in their homes. Schools moved online, transportation froze, childcare assistance vanished. People needed food, financial and rental assistance. Small businesses needed our help; many closed their doors forever, including diners and childcare centers. We lost so many friends and family members. Those were dark months. Today, more than a year later, thanks to our brilliant scientists, seventy percent of New Jersey residents are vaccinated -- schools, stores, restaurants, and offices are reopening. It seems like a switch was flipped overnight. But, despite all of the positive news, make no mistake, many are still climbing their way out of the COVID chaos.

This Child Tax Credit will help our families get back on their feet, especially those harder-pressed moms and dads.

Beginning this July, to help with the transition back to normal, qualifying families will start receiving Monthly Child Tax Credit dollars through the end of this year -- from July 15th through the end of December.

First enacted in 1997 with bipartisan backing, the Child Tax Credit helped a great number of families. In the American Rescue Plan, signed into law in March, and backed by a broad swath of Democrats and Republicans across the country, we've expanded this tax cut to help more families right here in North Jersey get through 2021 and beyond.

This is a massive tax cut, and it will help set our children up for success and put more money in the pockets of hard-working parents. It will help pay for child care, help pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses, and help put gas in the car, so moms and dads can go to work and help fuel our local economy -- all while building better lives for their families.

Here's how it will work:

Beginning July 15th, nearly all families should get their Child Tax Credit automatically, with no further action required. If you've filed tax returns for 2019 or 2020, or if you have provided your information to receive Economic Impact Payments from the IRS, you will get this tax relief automatically. You won't need to sign up or take any other action to get this extra boost.

For the small number of families who did not file a tax return for 2019 or 2020, and who did not use the IRS Non-filers tool last year to sign up for the direct COVID relief dollars, there is still time to make sure you get your Child Tax Credit. You can go online and use the IRS Child Tax Credit Non-filer Sign-up Tool to sign up today. There's information for this on the front page of IRS.gov.

There is also a link on the COVID resources page on my website -- gottheimer.house.gov/covid19 -- and on my Twitter and Facebook accounts.

I want to make sure every single eligible working family in North Jersey gets more of their hard-earned money back in their pockets.

So, how much will the Child Tax Credit help families claw back to Jersey from Washington? Just how big is this tax cut for Jersey families?

Our legislation expanded the Child Tax Credit to up to $3,600 per child for children ages 0 to 5, and $3,000 per child for children ages 6 to 17.

We authorized an upfront advance of the Child Tax Credit through December 2021.

Beginning in July and running through December, qualifying families can get up to:

$300 a month per child for children ages 0 to 5.

$250 a month per child for children ages 6 to 17.

And families will get their remaining expanded Child Tax Credit when they file their 2021 tax return next year.

Why are these dollars so critical for our hardest pressed families? To put this in perspective, it costs $310 a month at this Boys and Girls Club for after school care -- which, as you know, is key to getting back to work. That's 3-7 PM.

Who qualifies?

Families will qualify fr a full credit if their income is below $75,000 for single filers, below $112,000 for people filing as head of household, or below $150,000 for people who are married and filing jointly. Again, that's for the full credit -- for the full pandemic boost.

For families above that threshold -- who do not qualify for the fully-expanded benefit enacted under the American Rescue Plan -- they are still eligible for the Child Tax Credit -- an extra tax cut -- under the previous rules. This means that families making up to $200,000 for single filers, or up to $400,000 for joint filers, can receive up to $2,000 tax cut per child with the higher phase-out.

Now, who will this help in North Jersey?

With the new, expanded Child Tax Credit, an estimated 57% of children in New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District will directly benefit from this tax cut -- that's 96,200 children.

The average benefit for 32,900 households in the Fifth District will be $2,300 each.

Right here in the Fifth District, this Child Tax Credit boost will help lift thousands of children out of poverty.

That is truly life-changing, and it will help so many families not only get their lives back on track as we recover from the pandemic, but it will also provide thousands of North Jersey parents and children with much brighter futures.

We are blessed to live in beautiful, safe communities like this one, in a state we all love so much. And with this new and improved boosted Child Tax Credit, we are lifting more families in our communities up, we're helping children out of poverty, and we're ensuring North Jersey families and communities can fully rebound from the past year's crisis. This is all about helping our families get back on their feet after a year that knocked all of us off.

This is on top of all the other relief from the most recent COVID-19 package and all it's doing for North Jersey: including investment directly to every county, town, and borough government; direct stimulus checks that helped so many; support for broadband, clean water, and sewer projects; and relief for our live-venues and restaurants.
Helping our families and children get back to life after the pandemic, lifting children out of poverty, and clawing more of our federal tax dollars back to Jersey, should not be a Democrat or Republican issue. It's a what's good for Bergen, Passaic, Sussex, and Warren County issue. And what's good for America. I know that the Child Tax Credit we're highlighting today -- this massive tax cut for our families -- this boost to a critical program for moms and dads -- will continue to help us recover and rebound from this crisis.

We live in the greatest country in the world and I know that, working together, our best days will always be ahead of us.

Please stay safe and healthy, and God bless.

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