May 17, 2021 - Health

Child tax credits from COVID relief plan to begin arriving July 15

BIden stands between two flags at the White House and waves

Biden arrives in the Rose Garden on May 13. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

The expanded monthly child tax credit introduced in President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package will begin arriving in parents' bank accounts on July 15, the White House said Monday.

Why it matters: The credit, part of the administration's plan to transform the country's social safety net in the wake of the pandemic, would provide families with $300 monthly cash payments per child up to age 5 and $250 for children ages 6–17.

  • About 39 million households — and 88% of children in the U.S. — will be covered by the monthly payments, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
  • “With two parents, two kids, that’s $7,200 in the pockets you’re getting to help take care of your family,” Biden said in his joint address to Congress last month. “And that will help more than 65 million children and help cut childcare poverty in half, and we can afford it.”

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