Early Lessons on Increasing Participation in The Child Tax Credit

The American Rescue Plan temporarily increased the child tax credit (CTC) in 2021, including extending the credit to families who had not previously filed tax returns. The Internal Revenue Service automatically sent monthly payments of the CTC to families that had filed a tax return in 2019 or 2020. We document the work of the Birth through Eight Strategy for Tulsa, an initiative of the George Kaiser Family Foundation, to find low-income families who were likely to miss out on receiving the CTC. Tulsa’s existing network of service navigators worked to connect families eligible for the credit with tax preparation services to claim the CTC.