Gov. Walz urges Minnesotans to claim child tax credit: What you need to know about advance payments
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz visited a St. Paul community center on Tuesday morning to urge families to claim the child tax credit.
Minnesota became the first state in the nation to pass legislation on a child tax credit of this scale in 2023, which aims to cut child poverty by a third.
Single filers making $29,500 or less and married couples filing jointly making $35,000 or less qualify for a credit of $1,750 per child. The credit amount decreases as a filer's income increases, with eligibility ceasing for one-child families making more than $54,534 annually. However, the phase-out threshold increases for families with additional children.
State officials say 225,000 families received the credit last year, with the average family seeing about $2,500.
During his stop at the McDonough Community Center on St. Paul's east side, Walz said more than 400,000 children were impacted by the credit last year alone.
"There's a reason that there's three states in America who will have the lowest childhood poverty rate, and that's Minnesota, and this is only going to increase as we get more people to it," Walz said. "In the long run, we save taxpayer money, we strengthen our economy and we lift people up."
New this year, families can opt-in to receive their credit in three advance payments. Minnesota Department of Revenue Commissioner Paul Marquart, who was also on hand for Tuesday's visit, says the payments will be dispersed at the end of July, September and November.
"Those advanced payments will be 50% of what you received right now, and it will be for the next year. So if I'm getting $3,500, I would have three payments of $1,750, 50% of that $3,500 in three equal installments," Marquart said. "And then when you file the next year, you would reconcile that."
Marquart says families should first consider three things before opting into the advance payment option for the credit:
- Check on the Department of Children, Youth, and Families' website to see if or how SNAP payment could impact your credit amount.
- Families can opt out of the advance payment program at any time.
- Families don't have to pay back any of the advance credit due to an income increase.
The third caveat is due to a law passed last year that acts as a safeguard for families with earners who happen to get promotions or higher-paying jobs in the midst of receiving the payments.
"So even if you increased your [salary] or a spouse gets a new job, as long as you still qualify, you get at least that 50% credit and you would not owe any money back," Marquart told WCCO last year.
Minnesota's program is based on the federal tax credit issued during the pandemic.
Walz says families can count on the credit, which was part of the largest tax cut in state history, despite current upheavals in the federal government following President Trump's return to the White House.
"No matter what happens in the chaos at the national level, Minnesota will stay firm on this," Walz said.
Last year, 87% of Minnesota families applied for and got the tax credit, but thousands did not. Walz says in these uncertain times, these payments are something Minnesota kids and their parents can count on.
When WCCO's Esme Murphy asked Walz if he's concerned the current disorder at the Minnesota Capitol could endanger the tax credit program, he took aim at state Republicans.
"We just said the state of Minnesota had one of the biggest tax cuts in our history, half a billion dollars a year tax cuts, and there's no enthusiasm from Republicans there because we gave the tax cut to the wrong people apparently," Walz said. "They're enthusiastic about tax cuts at the highest income bracket, people making over $200,000 a year, that there's bills in there to do that and I'm sure there'll be bills to undermine this."
McDonough Community Center is one of several sites offering free tax preparations this weekend. To receive the credit, families must file their taxes by April 15.