Parents who want more money with their tax refund, or to avoid possibly paying more in taxes, have one week to opt out of child tax credit payments.
The deadline for opting out of the final payment on Dec. 15 is Nov. 29 at 11:59 p.m.
Anyone that doesn’t opt out will get their next payment.
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Payments began in July of 2021 and have been sent every month since. The most someone can get is $300 per child.
The payments began under the American Rescue Plan in March when President Joe Biden made it so parents could get a monthly advance on their 2021 child tax credit.
Many families have decided to opt out of the payments.
Related: The Child Tax Credit is fully refundable, here’s what that means
There are various reasons for this decision. Some don’t want to pay the IRS back if their income or filing status changes enough to impact their refund.
Some parents just want the bigger lump sum all at once in 2022 when they file their taxes.
Once you decide to opt out, you cannot re-enroll.
How to unenroll from child tax credit payments
You can unenroll by using the child tax credit update portal provided by the IRS.
You may login with an IRS username or ID.me account. If necessary, you can create an ID.me account.
You’ll then navigate to the Manage Payments link which provides instructions on how to unenroll.
Married couples filing jointly both need to unenroll separately to get the payments to stop.
You may also adjust your income, update addresses or banking information, and make all around changes necessary while using the portal.
Related: At what age do child tax credit payments stop?
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