The Child Tax Credit: What It Is, Who Qualifies, and How to Get It?

Transcript

Emily Krumberger: April 15, filing deadline for federal and state taxes is fast approaching, and the Minnesota Department of Revenue wants families to know about the child tax credit and the money it can put back in your pocket.

Paul Marquart: The last year was the first year of a nation-leading Child Tax Credit Families can qualify for up to $1,750 per child with no limit on the number of children.

Emily Krumberger: Paul Marquart is the commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Revenue,

Paul Marquart: And it's been highly successful. So last year, about $560 million went out to about 225,000 families and benefited about 450,000 children. It's huge. It can make a difference in families, lives, and the whole idea of it is that it can go a long ways in reducing child poverty in the state of Minnesota.

Emily Krumberger: To get the maximum credit, the income requirements are about $37,000 total income for married and joint filers, and about $31,000 for single income households. But the credit is also available for higher earner households at a reduced amount. It also depends on how many children you have.

Paul Marquart: If you have four children, you can qualify for some of the credit all the way up to almost $100,000.

Emily Krumberger: Children up to age 17 qualify, but you need to file an income tax return to get the Child Tax Credit. The state is hoping tribal members will take advantage of the credit.

Paul Marquart: We recognize that many tribal members are not required to file an income tax return, and so we really encourage tribal members who would qualify for the Child Tax Credit to consider filing a tax return to get this credit. Basically all the filers have to do is file that income tax form, and, you know, complete the necessary information and you can receive that credit.

Emily Krumberger: HACER, an advocacy group for Minnesota's Latino community, partnered with the Minnesota Department of Revenue to promote all the tax benefits the state provides to families with low income.

Oswaldo Cabrera: Particularly families that every year report taxes, no matter if they use the Social Security Number or IT number.

Emily Krumberger: Oswaldo Cabrera is the organization's Outreach and Communications General Coordinator. For those who don't have a Social Security Number, theIRS provides the option of using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.

Oswaldo Cabrera: In the case of the Minnesota Department of Revenue, there is a large list of benefits or credits, like Child Tax Credit, working family credit, K-12 credit, home credit, a renter's credit, all those just for the state of Minnesota, no matter the immigration status of the person that is reporting taxes through Social Security or IT number.

Emily Krumberger: HACER has a lot of resources in Spanish. You can visit their website at HACER.mn.org, Facebook page and YouTube channel for videos on the tax credit and other benefits and how to apply for them. This year, the Minnesota Department of Revenue is allowing filers to also receive half of their Child Tax Credit for the next year as well, in three installments. Here's Commissioner Marquart.

Paul Marquart: The real benefit here is that you can get payments not just when you file your taxes and receive that refund, but later in the year, you can receive up to 50% of your credit in three equal installments, and it really meets the payments to your financial situation. It really creates more flexibility and makes it easier for families to kind of close that gap between payments and their bills. So we're hoping that is going to be very beneficial and be able to provide families with flexibility to help meet their own financial situations.

Emily Krumberger: For newly filing enrolled tribal members, contact the Minnesota Department of Revenue's Tribal Outreach Coordinator, Dr Caitlin Johnson at caitlin.johnson@state.mn.us, about specific situations. This is Emily Krumberger for North Star Stories.