Who Qualifies for the Earned Income Credit: Limits & Child Rules

You qualify for the Earned Income Credit if you worked during the year and your earned income and adjusted gross income both fall below the limits for your filing status and number of qualifying children, you (and everyone on the return) have a work-authorized Social Security number, you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien for the whole year, your investment income stays under the yearly cap, and you are not filing Form 2555 to exclude foreign earned income. For tax year 2025, the credit is worth up to $8,046, and because it is refundable, it can produce a refund even if you owe no income tax.¹

Core Eligibility Rules Everyone Must Meet

You, your spouse if filing jointly, and any qualifying child listed on your return must each have a Social Security number issued by the Social Security Administration on or before the due date of your return, including extensions.² An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number does not qualify.³ The card must also authorize employment. A card issued only so you can receive a federally funded benefit such as Medicaid, without work authorization, will not satisfy this requirement.⁴

You have to be a U.S. citizen or resident alien for the entire tax year.⁵ Filing Form 2555 to exclude foreign earned income disqualifies you outright, regardless of anything else on the return.⁶

Married Filing Separately

Married filing separately generally blocks the credit. A separated spouse can still claim it, but only if a qualifying child lived with them for more than half the year and they lived apart from their spouse during the last six months of the year.⁵ Both conditions must be met.

Investment Income Cap

If your investment income (interest, dividends, and capital gains) is more than $11,950 for tax year 2025, you cannot take the credit no matter how modest your earned income is.¹ The limit rises to $12,200 for tax year 2026.⁷ The cap is a cliff, not a phase-out. One dollar over ends the credit entirely.

What Counts as Earned Income

The credit is built around money you work for. Wages, salaries, tips, and other taxable employee compensation count. So do net earnings from self-employment, meaning what remains after you subtract business expenses.

If you or your spouse received nontaxable combat pay while serving in the Armed Forces, you can choose whether to include it in earned income. The choice is all-or-nothing per person: include all of your nontaxable combat pay or none of it. On a joint return, each spouse decides separately.⁸ Calculate it both ways and pick whichever produces the larger credit.

Money that does not come from active work is excluded: interest, dividends, Social Security benefits, unemployment compensation, alimony, child support, and pension or annuity payments.²

Income Limits and Credit Amounts

Your adjusted gross income and your earned income each have to stay under the ceilings for your filing status and number of qualifying children. The following figures apply to tax year 2025 returns filed in 2026.

Maximum credit for tax year 2025:¹

No qualifying children: up to $649
One qualifying child: up to $4,328
Two qualifying children: up to $7,152
Three or more qualifying children: up to $8,046

p>Adjusted gross income ceilings for tax year 2025, at which the credit reaches zero:¹

No qualifying children: $19,104 single or head of household; $26,214 married filing jointly
One qualifying child: $50,434 single or head of household; $57,554 married filing jointly
Two qualifying children: $57,310 single or head of household; $64,430 married filing jointly
Three or more qualifying children: $61,555 single or head of household; $68,675 married filing jointly

Tax Year 2026 Figures

For tax year 2026, the maximum credit for three or more qualifying children rises to $8,231.⁹ Income ceilings move up across the board; for example, married filing jointly with three or more children can earn up to $70,244, and the investment income cutoff becomes $12,200.⁷ The full 2026 table appears in Revenue Procedure 2025-32.

Qualifying Child Rules

A child has to pass four tests before you can count them for the credit: relationship, age, residency, and joint return.

Relationship and Age

The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, or a descendant of any of them, such as a grandchild. Siblings, half-siblings, and step-siblings, along with their descendants, also qualify.¹⁰

The child must be under 19 at the end of the year, or under 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year. Either way, the child must be younger than you (or your spouse on a joint return). A child who is permanently and totally disabled qualifies at any age.¹⁰

Residency and Joint Return

The child must live with you in the United States for more than half the year. For this credit, the United States means the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. military bases. It does not include Puerto Rico, Guam, or the Virgin Islands. Temporary absences for school, hospital stays, vacation, military service, or juvenile detention still count as time living with you.¹⁰

A child who files a joint return with a spouse cannot be your qualifying child.

When Two People Could Claim the Same Child

Only one taxpayer can claim a given child. If just one of the two people is the child’s parent, the parent wins. If both are parents, the one the child lived with longest takes priority. When the child lived with each parent equally, the parent with the higher adjusted gross income claims the child. A non-parent can only claim the child if no parent does and the non-parent’s AGI is higher than that of any parent who could have claimed the child.¹¹

Qualifying Without a Child

You can claim a smaller credit — up to $649 for 2025 — with no qualifying child, but you have to meet extra rules. You (or your spouse on a joint return) must be at least 25 and under 65 at the end of the year.⁵ On a joint return, only one spouse needs to fall inside that age range.

You cannot be claimed as a dependent on anyone else’s return, and you cannot be the qualifying child of another taxpayer for the same year. You must also have lived in the United States, using the same 50-states-plus-D.C.-and-military-bases definition, for more than half the year.⁵

How to Claim It

File Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR, even if your income is low enough that filing is not otherwise required. Filing is the only way to get a refundable credit paid out. If you are claiming a qualifying child, complete and attach Schedule EIC listing each child’s name, age, Social Security number, and relationship to you.¹² Schedule EIC is not required if you have no qualifying child.

What Happens If You Claim It Incorrectly

Overstating income, misrepresenting a child, or otherwise claiming a credit you were not entitled to can cost you future access to it, on top of paying back what you received. If the IRS makes a final determination that your claim came from reckless or intentional disregard of the rules, you lose the credit for the next two tax years. If the IRS determines the claim was fraudulent, the ban runs for ten years.² After any denial (including a paperwork error), you must file Form 8862 with your next return before the IRS will allow the credit again.¹³

State Credits

More than 30 states and the District of Columbia have their own earned income credits layered on top of the federal one. Most set their credit as a percentage of the federal amount, with percentages ranging from roughly 4 percent to over 100 percent; a few use their own formulas. If you qualify federally, check whether your state has a matching credit, since it is often applied automatically on the state return.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Earned Income and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Tables
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 32 – Earned Income
3
Internal Revenue Service. Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
4
Internal Revenue Service. Basic Qualifications
5
Internal Revenue Service. Who Qualifies for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
6
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 596 (2025), Earned Income Credit (EIC)
7
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32
8
Internal Revenue Service. Military and Clergy Rules for the Earned Income Tax Credit
9
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
10
Internal Revenue Service. Qualifying Child Rules
11
Internal Revenue Service. Tie-Breaker Rule
12
Internal Revenue Service. How to Claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
13
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8862