STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — You might just need to wait a little longer for that sweet tax refund to hit your bank account if you use two popular tax credits.
Filing the Earned Income Tax Credit and/or the Additional Child Tax Credit on your tax return will cause filers to have to wait until the beginning of March — at the earliest — in order to see a refund.
The holdup comes from a law called the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015.
The decade-old law prohibits the Internal Revenue Service from distributing refunds that come from the Earned Income Tax Credit and/or the Additional Child Tax Credit prior to the middle of February.
“The extra time allows the IRS to verify income and identity in an effort to reduce fraud,” Advance/SILive.com sister site AL.com reported.
A typical Earned income Tax Credit filer gets back about $2,916.
“The Earned Income Tax Credit is vital to supporting working American families and rewarding them for their hard work,” IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano said in a written statement. “The IRS encourages every taxpayer who qualifies for the credit to claim the full amount they are due under the Internal Revenue Code.”
Filers who employ the Additional Child Tax Credit work in conjunction with the traditional Child Tax Credit. About $1,700 of the $2,200 offered to each eligible child in the Child Tax Credit is refundable through the Additional Child Tax Credit.
Both tax credits operate on income qualifications.
To learn more about the credits, please visit IRS.gov.
date: 2026-02-11 02:13:00
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