2021 Child Tax Credit and Advance Child Tax Credit Payments — Topic J: Unenrolling from Advance Payments

A1. You may want to unenroll from receiving advance Child Tax Credit payments for several reasons, including if you expect the amount of tax you owe to be greater than your expected refund when you file your 2021 tax return. The payments you receive are an advance of the Child Tax Credit that you would normally get when you file your 2021 tax return. Because these credits are paid in advance, every dollar you receive will reduce the amount of Child Tax Credit you will claim on your 2021 tax return. This means that by accepting advance child tax credit payments, the amount of your refund may be reduced or the amount of tax you owe may increase.

You may avoid owing tax to the IRS if you unenroll and claim the entire credit when you file your 2021 tax return.

A2. To stop advance payments, you must unenroll 3 days before the first Thursday of next month by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. You do not need to unenroll each month.

A3. You will get the next scheduled advance payment until we process your request to unenroll.

A4. It may take up to seven calendar days. Check back after unenrolling to make sure your request was processed successfully.

A5. You cannot re-enroll at this time. Unenrollment is a one-time action. You will be able to re-enroll starting in late September 2021.

A6. Yes. Unenrolling applies to the individual only.

A7. If you don’t unenroll, you will get half of the joint payment you were supposed to receive with your spouse.