Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): Amounts, Income Limits, and How to Claim It

What is the earned income tax credit?

The IRS describes the Earned Income Tax Credit as a tax break for low- to moderate-income workers and families. You will see three names for the same thing: EITC (the IRS's usual name), EIC (the name on tax forms such as Schedule EIC), and "earned income credit." They all mean this one federal credit.

Two features make it different from most tax breaks. First, it is refundable. A regular credit can only cut your tax bill to zero. A refundable credit goes further: whatever is left over is paid to you as part of your refund. A parent who owes $300 in tax and qualifies for a $4,000 credit can get the difference back.

Second, it is tied to work. You need income from a job or self-employment to get it. The credit grows as your earnings rise, holds steady at its maximum across a middle range of income, and then shrinks to zero as income climbs higher. The amount also depends on your filing status and how many qualifying children you claim.

Many people who qualify never claim it. Someone with a small income may not be required to file a tax return, and if they don't file, the IRS has no way to pay the credit. Filing is the only way to get it.

EITC amounts and income limits for tax year 2026

The IRS adjusts the credit for inflation each year. The figures below are for tax year 2026, meaning income you earn from January through December 2026, reported on the return you file in early 2027. They come from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 4.06, and the IRS news release on 2026 inflation adjustments. The IRS's own EITC tables page still showed tax year 2025 as its newest year when we checked on November 14, 2026, and usually adds the new year around the start of filing season.

The income limit applies to both your earned income and your adjusted gross income (AGI). If either one reaches the figure in the table, no credit is allowed. On top of that, your investment income (such as interest, dividends, and capital gains) must be $12,200 or less for tax year 2026. That test has no sliding scale: one dollar over the limit and the credit is gone.

How the amount phases in and out

You only get the maximum if your earnings fall in the right range. Under the same revenue procedure, the full credit is reached at $13,020 of earned income with one child, $18,290 with two or more, and $8,680 with no children. It begins to shrink once income passes $23,890 for families with children ($31,160 if married filing jointly), or $10,860 for workers without children ($18,140 jointly). Someone earning $9,000 with two children, for example, gets a partial credit, not the full $7,316.

To get a quick estimate for your own household, try our EITC calculator. The official amount comes from the EIC table in the Form 1040 instructions, which tax software and volunteer preparers use for you.

Tax year 2025 figures for late returns

If you haven't filed your return for 2025, or you need to amend it, use the older numbers. These are the tax year 2025 limits from the IRS EITC tables page. They applied to returns filed during the 2026 filing season.

The tax year 2025 investment income limit was $11,950. You generally have three years from a return's due date to claim a refund, so it is not too late to claim a missed credit from recent years. The IRS says a 2023 return claiming the credit must be filed by April 15, 2027.

What is earned income?

Earned income is money you get for working. The IRS counts:

• Wages, salaries, and tips from a W-2 job, including tips you didn't report to your employer.
• Net earnings from self-employment, a business, or a farm you own.
• Gig and freelance pay where no tax was withheld, such as ride-share driving, deliveries, odd jobs, and selling goods or services online.
• Pay as a household employee.
• Certain disability benefits received before minimum retirement age, taxable strike benefits, and Medicaid waiver payments excluded from income.
• Nontaxable combat pay, if you choose to include it.

The IRS adds that the full amount of tip and overtime income still counts as earned income for the EITC, even if you deduct some of it under the new tip and overtime deductions.

Some money does not count. Unemployment benefits, Social Security, pensions and annuities, child support, alimony, interest, and dividends are not earned income. Someone whose only income is unemployment or Social Security can't get the credit.

Basic rules to qualify for the EIC

According to the IRS who qualifies page, everyone who claims the credit must:

• Have earned income and stay under the income and investment limits for the year.
• Have a valid Social Security number, issued by the due date of the return including extensions. This applies to you, your spouse if filing jointly, and every child you claim. An ITIN is not a Social Security number, and an SSN issued only to get a benefit such as Medicaid, without work permission, does not count. If your card says "Not valid for employment" but you have since become a citizen or permanent resident, the IRS suggests asking Social Security for a new card.
• Be a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year, with a narrow exception for a nonresident married to a citizen or resident who files jointly and chooses to be treated as a resident.
• Not file Form 2555 (foreign earned income).

Workers with no qualifying children

You can still get a smaller credit without children. The IRS says you must be at least 25 and under 65 at the end of the year, live in the United States for more than half the year, and not be someone else's qualifying child or dependent. On a joint return, only one spouse has to meet the age rule. The United States here means the 50 states, D.C., and military bases, not territories like Puerto Rico or Guam.

Special rules exist for members of the military, clergy, and people with disabilities or who have relatives with disabilities. The IRS notes that for some military families and clergy, claiming the credit can affect other benefits, so it is worth reading those pages first.

Qualifying child tests

Children raise the credit the most, and they are also where most errors happen. The IRS qualifying child rules say a child must pass four tests:

1. Relationship. Your son, daughter, stepchild, adopted child, or eligible foster child; your brother, sister, half-sibling, or step-sibling; or a descendant of any of them, such as a grandchild, niece, or nephew.
2. Age. Under 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse on a joint return); or under 24 and a full-time student for at least five months of the year and younger than you; or any age if permanently and totally disabled.
3. Residency. The child lived with you in the United States for more than half the year. A homeless shelter counts as a home, and temporary absences for school, medical care, or military service still count as time at home. A baby born during the year counts if your home was the child's home for the time they were alive.
4. Joint return. The child did not file a joint return with a spouse, unless only to get back withheld tax.

Only one person can claim a child. If a child qualifies for two adults, such as a parent and a grandmother in the same home, IRS tiebreaker rules decide. A parent generally wins over a non-parent, and between parents who don't file together, the parent the child lived with longer usually gets the claim.

The EITC's qualifying child rules are not the same as the rules for the Child Tax Credit. For example, a 17- or 18-year-old can count for the EITC but not the Child Tax Credit. Our guide to child tax credits covers that credit's rules.

Married, separated, and filing separately

Married couples usually must file jointly to claim the EITC. You can't get around it by filing as single or head of household if you are still legally married and lived together in the last six months of the year, and the IRS lists that as a common error.

There is one exception for spouses who have split up but are not divorced. The IRS says you can claim the credit while married filing separately if a qualifying child lived with you for more than half the year and either:

• you lived apart from your spouse for the last six months of the year, or
• you were legally separated under your state's law by a written agreement or decree of separate maintenance, and did not live in the same household at the end of the year.

If neither applies, a married person filing separately can't claim the credit. Because filing status affects many parts of a return, the IRS suggests its Interactive Tax Assistant or Publication 501 if you aren't sure which status fits.

Schedule 3-A and the proposed immigration rule

There is a change for returns covering tax year 2026. The IRS EITC page now says that beginning with tax year 2026, you must complete Schedule 3-A, Federal Public Benefit, if you claim the credit.

This is linked to proposed regulations published on August 20, 2026. They would treat the refunded part of the EITC, the Child Tax Credit, the American opportunity credit, and the adoption credit as a "federal public benefit" under the 1996 welfare law. People who are not "qualified aliens" under that law would then not receive the refunded part. As of November 14, 2026, the rule was still a proposal and the schedule was a draft. Check the final form and the 2026 Form 1040 instructions when filing season opens, or ask a VITA volunteer. Citizens and most lawful permanent residents should expect an extra page to fill out rather than a change in what they get, but the final rules will settle the details.

How to claim the earned income credit

You claim the credit on your federal tax return. The IRS how to claim page lays out the basics:

1. Check if you qualify. Answer the questions in the IRS EITC Assistant. It is free and takes a few minutes. Make sure it is set to the right tax year.
2. Gather your papers. Social Security cards for everyone on the return, all W-2s and 1099s, records of self-employment income and expenses, and proof of where your children lived if anything is unusual.
3. File Form 1040 or 1040-SR, even if your income is below the filing requirement.
4. Attach Schedule EIC if you claim a qualifying child. It is not needed for the credit without children.
5. Complete Schedule 3-A for tax year 2026 and later, as described above.
6. Add Form 8862 only if the IRS denied or reduced your EITC in a past year for a reason other than a math or clerical error.
7. Choose e-file and direct deposit for the fastest refund.

IRS Publication 596 is the full rulebook if you want every detail. To see how the credit fits with your overall tax bill, our income tax calculator estimates federal income tax before credits.

When EITC refunds arrive

A federal law called the PATH Act stops the IRS from issuing any refund that claims the EITC or the Additional Child Tax Credit before mid-February. The IRS refund timing page says this hold covers your entire refund, not just the credit part. Filing early won't move you ahead of the date, though it does put you near the front of the line once the hold lifts.

For the 2026 filing season, the IRS said most early filers who e-filed, chose direct deposit, and had no problems could expect their refund by March 2, with an updated status in Where's My Refund by February 21. The IRS usually posts the new dates each January, so check that page for the 2027 season. Returns the IRS needs to review take longer, and the IRS will send a letter if it needs more information. Our IRS tax refunds guide explains tracking and delays in more depth.

State and local earned income credits

Many states add their own credit on top of the federal one, usually figured as a percentage of your federal EITC. The IRS list of states and local governments with an EITC showed 28 states, the District of Columbia, and New York City when we checked. Most of these credits are refundable, though a few only reduce state tax you owe.

Percentages range widely, from small credits to more than the federal amount, and some states set their own rules or cover workers the federal credit leaves out. Since state rules change often, check your state tax agency's website for the current version. If you claim the federal credit through tax software or VITA, the state credit is usually figured on the state return at the same time.

Free tax help: VITA, TCE, Free File, and MilTax

You don't need to pay anyone to claim the EITC. These options are free:

• VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance): IRS-certified volunteers prepare and e-file your return. The IRS says sites generally serve people who make about $70,244 or less, people with disabilities, and those who speak limited English, though each site can set its own limit. Find one through the IRS free tax preparation page or by calling 800-906-9887.
• TCE (Tax Counseling for the Elderly): free help focused on people 60 and older, much of it run as AARP Tax-Aide (888-227-7669, January through April).
• IRS Free File: guided software from IRS partners for adjusted gross income of $95,000 or less as listed on the IRS Free File page, plus fillable forms for any income. The page said Free File was closed and would reopen in January 2027, so confirm the limit then.
• MilTax: free software and tax consultants from the Defense Department for active-duty members, eligible family members, survivors, and veterans within 365 days of separation, including up to five state returns. See Military OneSource MilTax.

Paid preparers can charge high fees for simple returns, and refund advance products may carry costs. Using a free option keeps your whole credit in your pocket.

Common mistakes, letters, and audits

The IRS lists the errors it sees most often on its common EITC errors page:

• Claiming a child who doesn't meet the relationship, age, residency, or joint return test. This is the most common error.
• Two people claiming the same child.
• Names or Social Security numbers that don't match the Social Security card.
• Filing as single or head of household while married and living with your spouse.
• Reporting too much or too little income or business expenses.

If the IRS questions your claim, it writes to you. The letter names the documents it wants, and the IRS EITC letter and audit page explains each notice. Proof that a child lived with you can include school, medical, or child care records, and the IRS offers templates those offices can fill out. Your refund may be held until the review is finished. Answer by the date on the letter. A Low Income Taxpayer Clinic can help for free or a small fee.

Getting it wrong has real costs. If the credit is denied, you may have to pay it back with interest. The IRS can ban you from claiming the EITC for two years if it finds reckless or intentional disregard of the rules, and for ten years for fraud. After any denial that isn't a math error, you generally must file Form 8862 with your next claim.

Scams that target EITC refunds

Because the EITC can produce a large refund, it draws scammers. The IRS tax scams page warns about dishonest preparers. Walk away from anyone who:

• won't sign the return they prepared for you,
• offers to falsify information, such as adding a child who doesn't live with you or inventing business income to boost the credit,
• wants your refund deposited into their own bank account,
• demands cash only or won't give you a receipt.

You are legally responsible for what is on your return, even if someone else prepared it. Be wary of social media posts promising a "secret" credit, and of calls or texts claiming to be the IRS that demand payment right away or threaten arrest. Government programs never charge a fee to apply, and the EITC itself is free to claim. No new federal stimulus checks are scheduled, so a message offering one is a scam; see our stimulus relief guide for what is real.

Related guides

• EITC calculator
• Child tax credits
• IRS tax refunds
• Income tax calculator

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information, not tax advice. Credit amounts, forms, and rules are set by the IRS and Congress and can change. National Relief Program is an independent website and is not affiliated with the IRS or any government agency.