Boost your child tax credit

One way of boosting your payment is to update your income details.

On November 1, the IRS rolled out the option for parents to update their income details with its child tax credit update portal.

The deadline to do so for the November 15 payment was on the same day, but you can still do it for the December 15 instalment.

By doing so, families who are currently receiving monthly payments which are below the maximum may get an increase in the final payment.

This could happen if you lost your job in 2021 or for another reason are receiving substantially less income this year.

However, for families already receiving the maximum payment, a drop in income won’t increase the payment amount.

Meanwhile, families whose income rose substantially in 2021 should update their details – or they face having to pay back the IRS next year.