“You may fall through the cracks, so we are doing everything we can through media outreach, through these nonprofits, to help us identify eligible people and help them do something to activate the child tax credit, ”said Higgins, a Democrat from Buffalo.

Passed as part of Biden’s stimulus bill called the American Rescue Plan, the expanded child tax credit will provide $ 3,600 per year for children under 6 and $ 3,000 for ages 6 to 17 for most American families.

This is a vast expansion of a tax credit that has been in effect since 1997. In addition, the credit will be administered in a very different way starting in July, when most families eligible for the credit will begin collecting payments. per child – $ 300 for each child under 6 and $ 250 per child 6 and over – showing up in their bank accounts monthly if they get their tax refund through direct deposit. Other taxpayers who receive their refund in the mail will get the credit by monthly check.

That’s about 88% of taxpayers eligible for the credit, but federal officials are concerned about the remaining 12%, most of whom are too poor to even have to file federal income tax returns.

These people are still entitled to credit, and to make sure they get it, federal officials have not only set up a website – www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/child-tax-credit-non -filer-sign-up-tool – but appealed to congressional offices and nonprofits to help. Higgins said Buffalo residents can turn to his office or one of the nonprofits that joined him at the press conference for help: FeedMore of WNY, Parent Network of WNY, WNY Women’s Foundation and the Beverly Gray Business Exchange Center.