Supplemental child care checks are in the mail

ALBANY | Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced that New York State has officially started issuing approximately $350 million in supplemental payments to low- and moderate-income families statewide through the Empire State Child Credit program. The first round of checks was mailed Aug. 5 and will begin to appear in recipients' mailboxes this week. Checks will continue to be mailed over the next two weeks, and by the end of this month more than 1 million eligible families will receive up to $330 per child – with no need to apply. "As New Yorkers get started with back-to-school shopping for their kids, we're putting some money back in their pockets," Gov. Hochul said. "My team is making sure these supplemental payments reach every eligible New Yorker – and I'm going to keep working every day to address the cost of living for working parents across our state." Check delivery is occurring at a rate of over 100,000 checks per day to ensure that all eligible families receive their supplemental payment in a timely manner. Eligible families don't have to do anything to receive this one-time payment. It is being provided to New York taxpayers who previously received an Empire State Child Credit of at least $100 on their 2023 state tax returns. The payments range from 25 percent to 100 percent of the amount of a taxpayer's Empire State Child Credit received for tax year 2023. The highest payments of up to $330 per child will go to those with lower incomes. More information on supplemental payments is available here. The supplemental payments are being made pursuant to an agreement between the Governor and State Legislative Leaders earlier this year to set aside approximately $350 million in additional financial relief for current recipients of the Empire State Child Credit. Expanding Child Tax Credits to More Working Families The Empire State Child Credit is a refundable tax credit for income-qualified New Yorkers with children. In 2023, Governor Hochul and the State Legislature expanded the Empire State Child Credit to include children under four, benefitting an estimated 600,000 additional children per year. Earlier this year, the more than 1 million families eligible for the Empire State Child Credit began to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits based on their 2023 tax filings. More information on the Credit is available here. Delivering Financial Relief to Working New Yorkers Governor Hochul and the State Legislature have delivered an unprecedented level of financial support to low- and moderate-income New Yorkers over the last two years. More than $2.6 billion has been provided through supplemental payment and savings programs to millions of New York taxpayers since 2022. This includes the 2022 homeowner tax rebate credit, the 2022 supplemental Earned Income Tax Credit and Empire State Child Credit payments, the 2022 gas tax suspension, the 2023 expansion of the Empire State Child Credit and the latest round of Empire State Child Credit supplemental payments announced last week. Helping More Working Families Pay for Child Care Governor Hochul also recently launched ny.gov/programs/childcare – a digital portal to help make free or low-cost child care more accessible to eligible families statewide through New York State's Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). This new initiative follows an historic $1.8 billion state and federal investment in CCAP secured by Governor Hochul in the FY25 Enacted Budget. CCAP covers more than 90 percent of market rate child care costs for most eligible families, with most families of four paying no more than $15 per week for child care. The Governor previously worked with the Legislature to overhaul the child care system and make historic, one-of-a-kind investments, including a four-year, $7 billion commitment to improving the child care assistance program; expanding income eligibility for child care assistance to more than half of young children in New York; increasing state reimbursement rates to providers to expand the number of programs from which families can choose; investing $50 million to establish a child care capital program; investing $343 million to stabilize programs at risk of closure and support the child care workforce; and investing $15.6 million to expand child care to all SUNY and CUNY campuses.

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Supplemental child care checks are in the mail

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