Around 35 million American families have already received their first advanced child tax credit payment.
Beginning on July 15, the advanced payments began. The checks will continue to be disbursed every month until the end of the year totaling half of all the child tax credit a family will receive.
The IRS created tools to help families with the process, including a nonfiler tool, a child tax credit update tool and an eligibility tool.
As part of the American Rescue Plan, the child tax credit was expanded from $2,000 to $3,600 for qualifying children 5 and under and $3,000 for children 6-17.
Mela Seyoum | USA Today