To know whether you received the Earned Income Credit, look at Line 27a of your Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR. If a dollar amount appears on that line, the credit was claimed on your return and applied to your refund or tax owed. If the line is blank or shows zero, the EITC was not part of the return the IRS processed.
Check Line 27a on Your Tax Return
Pull out your copy of the return you filed for the year in question. On Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR, Line 27a is the Earned Income Credit line. The number written there is exactly what you claimed.
If you filed electronically, log in to the tax software you used. Most providers keep a PDF of your completed return available for several years, and the summary screens draw from the same Line 27a figure that was transmitted to the IRS.
A dollar amount on Line 27a settles the basic question. It does not, on its own, tell you whether the IRS accepted that amount or adjusted it after processing. For that, you need the transcript.
If You Don’t Have a Copy of Your Return
The IRS makes official transcripts available through Your Online Account at irs.gov. You will need your Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, your date of birth, the filing status from your most recent return, and the mailing address currently on file with the IRS.
Identity verification runs through a third-party service called ID.me. Setting up an ID.me account means uploading a photo of a government-issued ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, and taking a selfie with a smartphone or webcam. You’ll also need an email address and phone number to receive security codes.
Once you’re in, go to Tax Records and request a transcript for the year you want to check. Two transcript types matter here:
- A tax return transcript mirrors the return as you originally filed it. It won’t show any later changes.
- A tax account transcript shows how the IRS actually processed the return, including any credits applied and any adjustments made afterward.
For confirming that the EITC was recorded on your account, the tax account transcript is the one to pull. Look for a line item labeled “Earned Income Credit” with a dollar amount next to it.
Requesting a Transcript by Mail
If the online identity check doesn’t work for you — a common problem for people without a smartphone or a current photo ID — you can request a transcript by mail using IRS Form 4506-T. Fill in your name, Social Security number, address, and the tax year, then mail or fax the form to the IRS processing center for the state where you lived when you filed that return. The correct addresses are listed on the form itself. The IRS must receive the form within 120 days of the date you sign it.
You can also call the IRS automated phone line to request a transcript by mail. Either way, mailed transcripts generally arrive within five to ten business days and show the same EITC line as the online version.
What If the Amount Isn’t What You Expected
Compare the EITC figure on your account transcript with the amount on Line 27a of the return you filed. If they match, the credit went through as claimed. If the transcript shows a smaller number, the IRS adjusted your claim during processing, usually after verifying income or eligibility. A separate notice explaining any change is typically mailed to the address on file, so check your records for IRS correspondence from around the time the return was processed.
If the transcript shows no EITC at all and you believed you claimed it, the credit may not have been submitted on the original return. That points back to the copy of the return itself: if Line 27a is blank there, the credit was never claimed, regardless of eligibility.
Still Waiting on the Refund
If you filed a return with the EITC and the question is really “has my refund arrived yet,” use the Where’s My Refund? tool on irs.gov or the IRS2Go mobile app. It updates once per day, overnight, so checking repeatedly won’t produce new information.
Federal law requires the IRS to hold refunds that include the EITC or the Additional Child Tax Credit until mid-February, even for returns filed in early January. For the 2026 filing season, the IRS has said most EITC and ACTC refunds should reach bank accounts by March 2 for people who filed electronically and chose direct deposit, with Where’s My Refund? showing an updated delivery date by February 21 for most early filers.
IRS Letters Saying You May Have Missed It
Sometimes the IRS is the one that flags a missed credit. Two notices are the usual signal:
- Notice CP09 tells you the IRS believes you qualify for the EITC based on the return you filed. It includes a response form. You have 30 days from the notice date to reply through the IRS Documentation Upload Tool or by mail.
- Notice CP27 is similar and comes with Form 15112, the Earned Income Credit Worksheet. Complete and return the worksheet if you are eligible; if you’re not, don’t send it back.
Either notice is a strong sign the IRS has already identified a potential credit for you. Missing the deadline can mean losing the credit for that year, so keep the letter and act on it. It also serves as a record that the IRS considered you potentially eligible even if the credit didn’t end up on your return.
If You Were Eligible but Didn’t Claim It
When Line 27a is blank and you believe you qualified, you can file an amended return on Form 1040-X to claim the credit. File a separate Form 1040-X for each tax year you’re correcting. On Line 14, enter the EITC amount from your original return (usually zero) in Column A, the change in Column B, and the corrected amount in Column C. In Part II, explain the reason, such as “Claiming Earned Income Credit not included on original return.” Attach Schedule EIC if you have a qualifying child.
There is a hard deadline. You generally must file the amended return within three years of the date you filed the original return, or within two years of the date you paid the tax, whichever is later. Miss that window and the IRS cannot issue the refund, regardless of eligibility. You and any qualifying child must also have had a valid Social Security number by the original filing deadline for that tax year, including extensions.
If you’re unsure whether your income and family situation would have qualified you in the first place, the IRS publishes the year-by-year income limits, maximum credit amounts, and investment income cap that apply. Those figures, along with the age and residency rules for filers without a qualifying child, determine whether an amendment is worth filing.