IRS requires Advance Child Tax Credit recipients to wait to receive 6419 Letter before filing taxes

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - In July, the IRS began issuing advance child tax credits for individuals with children. The IRS is urging recipients to wait to receive letter 6419 in the mail before filing their taxes. Richard Appelhans, the owner of Nac Tax Services, said the letter contains important information that can make preparing a person’s tax returns easier.

“Every year, people try to file their taxes before receiving their W2. That is wrong. The same thing is with this letter from the IRS. It is wrong to file before you have the letter authorizing you to take the deduction,” Appelhans said.

The child tax credit allowed recipients to receive payments monthly for their child until the end of December. The increase will not apply to 2022.

The IRS is requiring Advance Child Tax Credit recipients to wait to file their taxes until they receive the 6419 letter which reflects the added money received. If you do not wait, the IRS said there could be some issues.

“Well the issues become when you’ve reported that you got more money than you should’ve or you got less money than you should’ve. So if you go in and put a number saying well I got that and you don’t have the letter then the IRS is going to say well we have a difference between what you’re reporting and what we sent you,” Appelhans said.

Appelhans said an individual will not have to pay back the child tax credit they received last year. One will just have to document it on their taxes.

“They should be getting their letters now. But they won’t get any payments back until later in the tax season so there’s going to be a big delay and people are going to be upset because the IRS is dragging their feet in putting the money back to us,” Appelhans said.

Eligible families who did not receive any advance child tax credit payments can claim the full amount of the child tax credit on their 2021 federal tax return. This includes families who don’t normally need to file a tax return.