Child Tax Credit Help: Reasons for Denial |
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Of the 12 million children with no access to child tax credit help, 1 million belong to military and veterans' families, per the Children's Defense Fund. Among them, over 260,000 have parents on active military duty. The House of Representatives was requested by Leaders of the Fair Taxes for All Coalition to urgently restore, minus net cost, tax credit help for almost 12 million children from families in the $10,500 to $26,625 annual income bracket, having been excluded from the recently signed tax bill by President Bush to accommodate tax breaks for millionaires. Last week, the overwhelming Senate vote was 94 to 2 for a child tax credit, paid for and not contributing to the national debt. Now the House is left to act immediately. The Thomas bill advocates expensive new tax cuts for the wealthy while risking and denying immediate help to low-income families facing utility bills and survival. Essentially the House of Representatives and the White House continue the great injustice to poor children with a $82 billion proposal for child tax credit help bill, that benefits high income families six times more in child tax credit help than the low income families. Last month the tax cut package excluded provision for 12 million middle-income children. The excluded Lincoln Amendment was capable of boosting the refundable portion of child tax credit help for families earning more than $10,500 but owing limited federal income tax. Married couples with three children would be affected in the $10,500 to $26,625 category. Many of them belong to current or former military families. The Children's Defense Fund has made estimates based on a computer analysis of government survey data compiled in March 2002. 8 million under 17 year olds have parents on active duty service, are veterans or with spouses in the armed forces. 1 million of those children stood to gain from the Lincoln child tax credit help provision dropped by the Republican conference committee at the last minute. The 1 million children would have also gained an additional $151 per child on average. With the new tax cut law America's 190,000 millionaires gain about $93,500 each. The Lincoln provision would have helped around 1.4 million under-17 children in active duty families and a quarter million or 1 in 5 of these children. The Children's Defense Fund used tax simulations from family data of the US Census Bureaus March 2002 Current Population Survey. It is conservative in excluding children of Armed Forces reservists or others serving in the 2003 Iraq War and also in not accounting for the failure of the tax cut bill to consider combat pay as earnings in defining eligibility for child credit. Earned Income Tax credit help and Child Tax credit help among tax credit help workers recover a part or the entire income tax paid with an occasional refund. The Advanced Earned Income Tax credit help eliminates waiting for tax time for families. Those qualifying get some of their EITC in their weekly paychecks with the remainder in a refund when filing taxes. This helps in expenses like rent, utilities, food and childcare ensuring that New Yorkers continue working. The Child Tax credit help checks mailed to workers in 2003 as advance for this year counts towards the 2003 Child Tax credit help. If an advanced child tax credit help payment was received from the federal government in the mail in 2003, workers need to reduce the credit to be claimed on tax returns by advance amount in 2003. Those expecting an advance CTC check in 2003 which failed to reach them had to contact the IRS before December 5, 2003 for an advance check. Otherwise families can claim the credit on completing their 2003 tax returns. Those unsure about having received the CTC check, can check the IRS website or call directly. There are also volunteers at the free tax-filing assistance locations to help. Federal tax return (Form 1040 or 1040A) needs to be filed and the CTC worksheet completed to avail of it. The first purpose of the CTC is to reduce or eliminate any income tax due. Left over CTC requires completion and filing of Form 8812 to determine if the family qualifies for a CTC refund and the amount. The refund is called the Additional Child Tax credit help. Form 8812 needs to be attached to the tax return for the CTC refund. |
