Photo by Arina Krasnikova
Tax credits are a great way to lower your taxes. They provide a dollar-for-dollar offset of any tax you owe. A few are refundable, meaning if your credit amount is more than your tax bill, you get the excess credit amount back as a refund.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of those refundable tax credits. It’s also one of the most overlooked.
EITC tax savings range from hundreds to thousands of dollars for qualifying filers. While the larger credit amounts go to families, single taxpayers are eligible, too. The maximum EITC amounts for the 2025 tax year are —
- $649 for filers with no qualifying children;
- $4,328 for taxpayers with one qualifying child;
- $7,152 for filers with two qualifying children; and
- $8,046 for taxpayers with three or more qualifying children.
These credit amounts are adjusted annually for inflation. You can get a preview of the 2026 amounts in the ol’ blog’s inflation series post on the changes next year to tax deduction, credit, and income exclusion amounts.
The Internal Revenue Service says that 23.5 million workers and families across the United States claimed the EITC last year. These qualifying taxpayers received a collective total of approximately $68.5 billion in EITC payments from their 2024 tax year filings. The average amount was $2,916.
20 percent of filers miss out: The EITC’s tax-saving value, however, is not enough to get all eligible taxpayers to file for it. The IRS estimates that roughly one in five eligible taxpayers ignore or overlook the EITC every filing season.
Part of the reason that 20 percent of qualifying filers don’t take advantage of the EITC is that it is rather complicated to claim.
The tax credit was created to help taxpayers who work, but don’t make a lot. That means you must have a job, but your wages or salary can’t be too much. If you have children, they must meet EITC eligibility requirements. There also are age limits.
Many of those who do meet the EITC’s Goldilocks’ “just right” qualifying standards can’t afford to hire a tax professional to help them maneuver the EITC’s intricacies. Even tax software can be confusing.
Who qualifies for EITC: Part of the complication come from the earnings sweet spots that will get qualifying taxpayers the largest possible EITC benefit.
For 2025 tax year claims, workers can claim the EITC if their income did not exceed the following limits:
|
Income Limits by Filing Status | ||
| Number of Dependents | Single, Head of Household, Surviving Spouse, or Married filing separately | Married jointly filing |
| No children | $19,104 | $26,214 |
| 1 child | $50,434 | $57,554 |
| 2 children | $57,310 | $64,430 |
| 3 or more children | $61,555 | $68,675 |
| There also is an $11,950 limit on investment income for all filing statuses. | ||
In addition, workers must —
- Be a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year.
- File a tax return even if their income level doesn’t usually require them to file.
- Have a valid Social Security number (SSN) for themselves, as well as for their spouse, if filing a joint return, and for each qualifying dependent claimed for the EITC.
- File a return without Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income.
If you don’t have a qualifying child, to claim the EITC you must —
- not qualify as a dependent of another person,
- live in the United States (U.S. territories don’t count here, but military bases do) for more than half of the year, and
- be age 25, but younger than 65, at the end of the year (married jointly filing couples qualify if one spouse falls within the age range).
Married but separated spouses who do not file a joint return may qualify for the EITC if they meet certain requirements.
There also are special rules for military personnel, clergy and ministers, as well as for taxpayers with certain types of disability income or a child who is disabled.
Claiming the EITC: As the above rules show, claiming the EITC isn’t just a simple filing of Schedule EIC with Form 1040. That’s why some lawmakers, taxpayer groups, and even the National Taxpayer have called for, among other things, simplifying the EITC.
But until that happens, the IRS recommends those who think they might qualify review its special EITC web page. Then you can move on to IRS.gov’s EITC Assistant, where you can use the online tool to check your eligibility.
If you still need help filing for the EITC, you also might qualify for free help in filing your tax return and claiming it and other tax breaks.
Taxpayers comfortable using software to complete and file their taxes, and whose adjusted gross income last year was $89,000 or less, can use one of the eight programs now available via Free File. If you prefer face-to-face help, check out your local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) site.
Or you could hire a reputable tax professional who meets your tax and budget needs.
Even though claiming the EITC is more work, sometimes a lot more, at least give it a look if you’re in the income ranges cited earlier. Don’t let Uncle Sam keep money that you can claim.
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