Trenton — New Jersey families can now claim the state’s refundable Child Tax Credit through a free online tool that Governor Mikie Sherrill unveiled on Friday, a move her administration says will put money worth up to $1,250 per child into the hands of lower-income parents who often miss out because they aren’t required to file a tax return. The platform, called SimpleFile, is live at SimpleFile.NJ.gov, works on mobile phones, and is offered in English and Spanish.

The benefit itself is not new, but the reach is the point. An estimated 200,000 families have already claimed the credit, and state officials say many more qualify and have never applied. State Treasurer Aaron Binder said the goal is for every eligible family to receive the money, calling tax season overwhelming for households that need a simpler path. Families that do not normally file a return have historically been the hardest group to reach, since the credit is claimed on a state tax filing they may never submit.

Here is the eligibility status families need to know. To use the SimpleFile shortcut specifically, an applicant must have been a full-year New Jersey resident in 2025, must have earned less than $20,000 if filing jointly or under $10,000 if filing individually, must have at least one dependent age 5 or younger who lived with them for most of the year, and must not otherwise be required to file a full federal or state return. Households above those income lines still qualify for the credit itself, but claim it the standard way on their New Jersey return rather than through the new tool.

The credit is tiered by income and available to families earning $80,000 or less. Under the fiscal 2027 budget, the maximum rises from $1,000 to $1,250. Households earning $30,000 or less receive the full $1,250. Families earning more than $30,000 but not more than $40,000 receive $1,000; those between $40,000 and $50,000 receive $750; those between $50,000 and $60,000 receive $500; and those earning more than $60,000 up to $80,000 receive $250. Each figure is a step up from the prior year’s amount, part of a 25% expansion the Legislature approved for the 2026 through 2028 tax years.

For the consumer economy, the timing matters. Sherrill framed the credit as one of the most direct affordability levers the state controls, money parents spend immediately on childcare, groceries, clothing, and other essentials rather than saving. That makes the program function less like a long-term tax break and more like a direct injection into local retail and service spending across the state’s 21 counties. Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz, a sponsor of the 2018 law that created the credit and of the recent expansion, has argued the relief strengthens the financial stability of working families and helps them keep pace with rising living costs.

The tool was built through a partnership among the New Jersey Innovation Authority, the Treasury Department’s Division of Taxation, and the nonprofit Code for America, which has developed similar simplified-filing systems in other states. By stripping the process down to the few questions that determine eligibility, the state is betting it can convert awareness into actual claims, the gap that has left tens of thousands of qualifying families without money already set aside for them in the budget.

Families who have not yet filed for the current year remain eligible to claim the credit, and those who qualify for the streamlined path can complete an application at SimpleFile.NJ.gov. Households that want to confirm which tier they fall into, or that need the standard filing route, can find details on the New Jersey Division of Taxation’s Child Tax Credit page at nj.gov/treasury/taxation.

The broader question for the state is uptake. A credit only delivers economic relief when families actually collect it, and New Jersey has now removed one of the largest remaining obstacles: a filing requirement that quietly screened out the very households the benefit was designed to help. Whether the new site closes that gap will show up not just in claim totals but in the everyday spending of parents who, until this week, may not have known the money was theirs to take.

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