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Sterling, VA -- Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) hosted a roundtable to discuss the impacts on local families from the upcoming expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) advanced payments, which will be delivered to families beginning this Thursday, July 15th.

“The expanded Child Tax Credit is a historic tax cut for working families that we passed as part of the American Rescue Plan,” said Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton. “Over 135,900 children in our district will benefit from this program, which will help families pay for child care and other expenses and enable parents to get back to work. Beginning this week, eligible families will begin seeing monthly payments hit their bank accounts, and most will not need to take any additional actions to receive those payments. I’ll keep fighting to help our families bounce back strong from the COVID crisis, including making this expanded Child Tax Credit permanent.”

Wexton was joined by two moms from Loudoun County: Heather Beardsley, President of the Hamilton Elementary Parent Teacher Association and parent of a rising 6th grader and kindergartener; and Elizabeth Coppage, a preschool teacher and parent of a 3rd, 11th, and 12th grader. The parents spoke about how the advanced CTC payments would ease financial anxiety for their families and help them more easily pay for things like child care, school fees, groceries, and more. Kristina Hagen, Virginia Campaign Director for the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy, and Emily Griffey, Chief Policy Officer for Voices for Virginia’s Children, also joined the roundtable to share how their organizations are working to inform families about the expanded CTC payments and what this new program would do to lift up Virginia families from the pandemic and help working parents get back on the job.

The full roundtable can be viewed here.

The American Rescue Plan expanded the Child Tax Credit by increasing the value of the credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child (and $3,600 per child under age 6), raising the CTC’s eligibility age to include children who are 17 years old, and making the CTC advanceable as monthly payments.

Advanced payments of up to $250 or $300 begin this Thursday, July 15th, and will continue through the end of the year. Families can check their eligibility, submit their information if they did not file taxes in 2019 or 2020, or opt out of the monthly payments at IRS.gov/childtaxcredit2021. Most eligible families will not need to take any action if they filed a tax return in 2019 or 2020 and claimed the CTC or if they used an IRS non-filer tool to claim their stimulus checks.

In Virginia’s 10th District, it is estimated that 135,900 children, 60.5% percent, will benefit from the monthly CTC checks. Additionally, the expanded and improved CTC lifts 7,300 children in Virginia-10 out of poverty and 1,300 children out of deep poverty. Because of the larger benefit for the youngest, 2,900 kids under the age of six are raised out of poverty. The average benefit for 42,000 households in Virginia-10 is $2,400 annually. Families with children in poverty will receive $3,700 on average.

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