What's Happening With the New Child Tax Credit?

At the beginning of 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed $78 billion tax legislation that includes a newly expanded child tax credit (CTC) and various tax breaks for businesses.

Since then, the bipartisan tax package has been stalled in the U.S. Senate. Hope that the new child tax credit will become law, is dwindling.

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and other Republicans have expressed concern about a provision in the House version of the bill. That provision would allow families to use prior year income to claim the child tax credit (CTC).  Sen. Crapo previously stated that, due to that provision, the bill had "no near-term path forward in the Senate." 

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Crapo argues that using prior-year income would allow families with no income to claim the credit, which he says would "transform the CTC from primarily working family tax relief into a government subsidy." 

In an April 5 letter, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) mentioned the opportunity to make progress on the child tax credit "in the weeks and months ahead." But the April 15 tax deadline passed with no movement on the bill. Recent reporting indicates the tax bill could be attached to an upcoming FAA reauthorization, with a deadline of May 10. 

Child tax credit 2024 update

Right now, it is not clear whether an expanded child tax credit will become law. The tax package would need 60 votes to pass the Democratic-led Senate.

However, the child tax credit expansion, if it does happen, won’t reach as far as it did under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Here's what the expansion would look like under the House version of the bill:

• Ensuring families with lower incomes and multiple children will qualify for a larger portion of the credit. (The maximum refundable portion of the credit would increase from $1,600 to $1,800 for the 2023 tax year.)
• Adjusting the child tax credit amount for inflation.
• Giving families the option to use prior year income to determine the refundable amount of the credit (the provision in question that could be removed).

Given the current framework, policymakers say families with the lowest incomes and multiple children will benefit the most from an expanded child tax credit. 

However, even if the new CTC doesn't become law, the refundable portion of the child tax credit will increase for the 2024 tax year. But, the scheduled increase will not benefit families with lower incomes like the proposed child tax credit would.

Bipartisan tax bill child tax credit

The tax package that includes expanding the child tax credit would come with a hefty price tag of approximately $78 billion. How the expansion would be funded has been key in negotiations between Democrats and Republicans. The clawing back of a pandemic-era tax credit, the employee retention credit (ERC), could in part fund the new child tax credit deal. 

The ERC offered incentives to businesses to retain employees, but as Kiplinger has reported, the IRS has seen a significant amount of fraudulent ERC claims. The agency issued a moratorium on processing new claims and offered programs to allow taxpayers to withdraw or pay back potentially incorrect claims. (The deadline for one such program was March 22. )

However, funding an expanded child tax credit is not the only hurdle the tax package has faced. As mentioned, the bipartisan tax deal involves compromises on other issues, which include restoring some business incentives from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (also known as the Trump Tax Cuts). 

Increased child tax credit

The pandemic-era expanded child tax credit kept millions of children out of poverty, but that changed when the credit expired.  Data show that the poverty level increased from 5.2% to 12.4% when families could no longer benefit from the expansion. 

Democrats have been trying to bring the federal expanded child tax credit back since its expiration, but past attempts have failed. 

Related Content

• Child Tax Credit: Who Qualifies and What It’s Worth
• Families and Businesses Would Get Big Tax Breaks in Bipartisan Tax Deal
• Who Will Get an Expanded State Child Tax Credit This Year?