Unmet Needs Remain as Families Look to Child Tax Credit Opportunity
We are almost one month away from the historic first Child Tax Credit payment on July 15th where estimates show at least 36 million households can expect to receive this credit. However, there’s still a ton of work to be done. Households who are newly eligible for this credit (and even those who have received it before) have unmet needs and unanswered questions.
These needs are layered upon continued anxiety and confusion as many of these same families wait for their stimulus checks and tax refunds.
Our last survey showed that 30 percent of those surveyed (moms making under $40k with a child under age 2) were still waiting on a stimulus check and 28 percent were still waiting on their tax refund.
The IRS certainly has a lot on their plate right now as it works hard to process 2020 tax returns and Economic Impact Payments with limited staff and resources.
Where are the biggest gaps?
We’ve seen firsthand through our work guiding families through tax-time this past year that it was difficult for many families to access their refunds and stimulus checks. This moment is similar in that families need 1) reliable information, and 2) tools to help them access the credit and then save a piece of it. This work gave us insights into both areas where families may need extra support and an understanding of how to best offer resources, tools, and information that is most helpful to them in their context. We built on this work with new survey results to uncover three gaps/opportunities.
- Need for reliable and accessible information that is consumable in formats that can reach users and that they can access on their own time. This information needs to answer real questions people have.
- Need for families to have safe and secure accounts where they can access the payments securely and for free (as opposed to receiving them by mail).
- Need for ways to make it easier to save these monthly payments.
What questions do parents have about the credit?
We recently conducted a survey of mothers making under $40k with a child under age 2 to understand what questions were on their minds.
Of those surveyed, 15% had never heard of the child tax credit and 60% had heard about it but didn’t know the specifics.
We were struck by how many of them had outstanding questions about the credit. Nearly half (48%) wanted to know what they needed to do to get the money. Nearly as many (41%) wanted to know if they were eligible and how much money they would get from it.
Parents have shared countless other questions with us in the survey and from our own work in communities that we are working through answering via videos, articles, and Instagram posts that range from “Will this affect my taxes next year?” to “Is this real or fake and what is the reason behind this?” to “How does this work for parents who file separately?” to “Will I get more money if I wait versus taking the monthly payments?”.
What can we do? How can we help parents this year?
We need to start centering these parents, their questions, and their needs if we want to make sure we provide the information and tools that will guide them through this opportunity. Nonprofits and government are certainly trying. The EITC Outreach campaign has a great Q+A on the Tax Credit and the IRS has promised to build out a tool to help families understand eligibility. In the meantime all that we’ve seen is a simple calculator to calculate monthly payment size. There is significant room to innovate.
If you work with parents who are eligible for the credit, or you yourself are eligible, please spread the word to make sure parents get the support they need this year! Here’s what you can do.
- Make sure parents have reliable, up-to-date information.
We wrote this guide for families which includes three videos. Families can also monitor updates from the IRS directly via their webpage devoted to the Child Tax Credit payments.
At Let’s Get Set we launched our Child Tax Credit Facts Text line to keep parents up-to-date on when portals go live, the IRS shares updates, and to give them a way to ask questions. It’s free and all parents have to do is text “GETSET” to 844–921–5747 to learn more or click here: letsgetset.link/text. We’ve found that parents prefer this method of receiving information and nothing else exists yet like this!
2. Join us in building tools that meet the needs surfaced by families. We are currently building two sets of easy-to use tools to help families understand 1) what action they may need to take (if any) to get the credits and 2) tools to help them save a piece of the credits. We are also establishing partnerships with mission-aligned financial partners who can offer safe banking options to families who need a place to accept these recurring payments.
Why? Because that’s what families told us would be most helpful.
