Child tax credit latest: Immigrant spouse glitch sees delay in payments to US families as IRS works to fix issue

A NUMBER of families were left out of the first batch of child tax credit payments last month because of a system error caused by one spouse having a different citizenship or immigration status to the other.

Under the American Rescue Plan, eligible families are entitled to monthly payments of up to $300 for each child 5 and under and up to $250 for each child aged 6 to 17.

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Some families with one spouse having a different citizenship or immigration status to the other missed out on the first round of Child Tax Credit payments[/caption]

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The IRS acknowledged the system error and said it is working to rectify the problem[/caption]

The first batch of payments were made on July 15, but, according to The Washington Post, a number of mixed-status families missed out because of the glitch.

The Post gave the example of Samantha Alonso-Campos, who, at the end of July, was still waiting for the $1,100 a month the IRS told her she should expect for her four children as an advance child tax credit payment.

The newspaper also cited the case of Lara Garcia, who didn’t receive the $850 she was promised for her three children.

Garcia, who lives in Annapolis, Maryland, said: “I’m a U.S. citizen by birth. My husband is from El Salvador, but we met all the eligibility requirements so I never really thought twice about it.

PAYMENTS MISSED

“It wasn’t like the first stimulus payment where I didn’t realize we weren’t getting it because of the mixed-status issue. But everything indicated that mixed-status families were good to go.

“I had been expecting come July, that extra money was going to be there. So I’ve planned accordingly, trying to catch up with everything from last year.”

The IRS acknowledged the complaints in a statement and said that it is working to correct the issue.

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The statement read: “The IRS is aware some taxpayers who filed tax returns with ITIN numbers did not receive their child tax credit payment for July. We have worked expeditiously to correct this issue and these taxpayers will start receiving payments in August. All impacted taxpayers will receive their July payment.”

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Under the American Rescue Plan, eligible families are entitled to monthly payments of up to $300 for each child 5 and under and up to $250 for each child 6 to 17.[/caption]

It is unknown how many mixed-status families were impacted by the glitch, but one Facebook group, Mixed Status Families United, said that it had received messages from more than 400 families who hadn’t received payment.

Families with one spouse of a different citizenship or immigration status to the other have felt neglected in the past.

When the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act – or CARES Act – became law in March, it excluded married couples filing joint returns unless both spouses had Social Security numbers valid for employment.

Previous complaints from mixed-status families have resulted in some changes, however.

Families where one taxpayer had a Social Security number valid for employment were made eligible for the first round of stimulus payments, as well as the second and third rounds of payments.

Undocumented people, however, are still ineligible to receive such payments.

Roughly 35 million U.S. families with 60 million children were sent the first monthly check for the Child Tax Credit on July 15, part of the American Rescue Plan’s effort to help low- and middle-income families with the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.