What’s happening with the remaining child tax credit payments?

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Taxpayers are calling out to leaders of the Senate Select Investigating Committee (SSIC) to conduct a probe into the Treasury Department over the remaining two payments for the Advance Child Tax Credit  (CTC) funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act 2021, that have not been disbursed to local eligible taxpayers.

Moreover, the taxpayers want the IRS to launch an investigation into the ASG Treasury as well — over their handling of federal money and to find out whether or not qualified taxpayers are getting the full remaining Advance Child Tax Credit amounts, as they aren’t getting answers to their questions from the Tax Office.

Many taxpayers told Samoa News that they’re suspicious something is not right because they believe the amount they’re getting for their tax refund for 2021 is included in one check with the remaining two payments of the advance child tax credit. Taxpayers Samoa News spoke with are saying they are unable to get a breakdown on the amounts from Treasury personnel in order to determine what they’re getting from their refund as opposed to the Advance CTC.

When taxpayers went to file their 2021 tax return starting in January, they say they told that their refund checks would include the remaining child tax credit payments. According to the taxpayers they also received an unsigned letter from the Treasury Department in their mailboxes informing them of the new process.

Taxpayers who spoke to Samoa News regarding this issue stated that they asked several Tax Office staffers to explain how much they’re getting from their tax refund and how much they’re getting from the balance of the child tax credit.

According to taxpayers, some Tax Office staff refused to provide details about the remaining child tax credit while others were very rude and unhappy that they were asking questions.

One taxpayer said that after she filed her tax return she then asked the staff member who assisted her to explain how much she is going to get for the remaining advance tax credit. There was no answer.

“I asked one Tax Office staff to explain to me the new filing process and the reason the tax refund check was not separate from the remaining child tax credit checks, but she responded that the new process for filing tax returns was not initiated from their office. It was from ‘upstairs’,” the taxpayer said she was told.

This taxpayer said that based on the amount printed on the tax form, she is going to receive one $3,580 check for both her tax refund and the remaining two advance child tax credit payments.

According to the taxpayer, for the first two checks for the Advance CTC — she received $2,700 in September and same amount in December of last year.

“Based on the information provided by our local Treasury Department last year, this is the same amount I am supposed to get for the two remaining checks, however, it appears that this is not the case,” said the taxpayer.

A couple who filed their taxes together also shared their story.

They said that they almost got into a verbal argument with one of the Tax Office staff after they asked questions about their refund and how much they’re getting for the remaining Advance CTC funds.

“We asked the employee to explain to us how much we’re going to get for our 2021 tax refund and also how much we’re going to get for the remaining child tax credit, but she told us that we’re wasting a lot of her time while she has a lot of other work to do,” the disappointed couple said.

They explained that the reason they asked questions was because the tax refund amount showing on their tax form is $2,280.

They wanted to know if this is the whole amount for both their tax refund and the remaining advance child tax credit. However, they were informed by the person who helped them with their taxes that the amount showing on the form is for both their tax refund and the remaining child tax credits.

“We asked the employee to please explain to us how he did the calculation and why the tax refund and the remaining child tax credit all come together in one amount,” the couple explained.

The couple said that in September and December of last year, they received checks in the amount $2,400 for the advance child tax credit.

Prior to that, they received their 2020 tax refund check in May 2021 in the amount of $2,380.

The couple stated that based on the information provided by ASG through the Treasury Department, qualified dependents age 5 and under, qualify for a total of $1,800. Eligible taxpayers would receive two payments of $900; and qualified dependents age 6 to 17 qualify for a total of 1,500; and eligible taxpayers would receive two payments of $750.

“Based on this calculation from ASG and the amount of the two checks we received last year, we believed that we’re going to receive $4,800 for the remaining advance child tax credit, plus our tax refund,” the couple explained.

The check they’re going to receive this year for their tax refund and the remaining advance child tax credits came out to $3,290 and according to the couple, something is not right and a request needs to be sent to the IRS to immediately launch an investigation into this matter.

“These are federal funds and no one should play games with federal funding because that person will face severe consequences for their own selfish action,” the couple said.

Another taxpayer shared a similar experience saying that she also went to the Tax Office to file her taxes on Feb. 16 and was told to go back to check her mail for the letter from the IRS to help with the filing of her 2021 tax return.

She checked the mailbox and got the letter — it’s a letter from the ASG Treasury Department, not from the IRS, she said.

After she filed her taxes, she was told that the check of $4,400 she’s going to get is for her 2021 tax refund and the remaining advance child tax credit payments.

According to this taxpayer, the amount is not right and she wants to know why she’s only receiving this amount.

For the first two Advance CTC checks she received in September and December of last year she received $2,550 each — for a total of $5,100.

Her 2020 tax refund she received in June of last year was $3,090.

She was thinking that she would receive over $7,000 for both her 2021 tax refund and the remaining advance child tax credit payments.

She wants to know how much she’s getting from the remaining Advance CTC and how much she gets for her 2021 tax refund.

A senior tax officer told Samoa News that the process they’re utilizing this year is the same as every year and he did not want to comment further about the matter.

BACKGROUND

ASG Tax Office manager, Vaaimamao Poufa told lawmakers in August 2021 that qualified tax payers would receive four equal payments; and the first two are scheduled to go out on the last week of September and the third week of December, 2021, while the third and fourth payments are scheduled to go out some time next year (2022), depending on the time taxpayers file their tax return for 2021.