Earned income credit (EITC) for 2025 and 2026

Investment income such as interest, dividends and capital gains must be $12,200 or less for 2026. One dollar more and the whole credit is lost.

If you qualified for 2025 or an earlier year and did not claim the credit, you can usually still claim it by amending that return within three years of its due date.

The credit grows with each dollar you earn until it reaches the maximum, stays there for a stretch, then shrinks as income rises past the phase-out point until it reaches zero at the limit.

For 2026 it builds at 34% of earnings with one child, 40% with two, 45% with three or more and 7.65% with none. The maximum is reached at $13,020 of earnings with one child, $18,290 with two or more and $8,680 with none. The phase-out starts at $23,890 of income ($31,160 if married filing jointly) with children, and $10,860 ($18,140 joint) without.

You must meet all of these rules, and then either have a qualifying child or meet the rules for workers without one.

A child must pass all four tests, and only one person can claim the same child.

A married couple with two children earns $30,000 between them. That is below the $31,160 joint phase-out point, so they get the full $7,316.

A single parent with two children earns $30,000. That is $6,110 over the $23,890 phase-out point, and the credit falls by 21.06% of that, about $1,287, to roughly $6,030.

A 30-year-old single worker with no children earns $15,000. That is $4,140 over $10,860, so the $664 maximum falls by 7.65% of it, about $317, to roughly $347.

Illinois adds its own refundable credit equal to 20% of the federal one, claimed on Schedule IL-E/EITC. In the single-parent example that is about $1,206 more.

It reaches people the federal credit leaves out: since 2023, filers with an ITIN, and workers with no qualifying child who are 18 to 24 or 65 and older. Illinois also gives a child tax credit of 40% of the Illinois EITC if you have a child under 12. These are the 2025 rules; the law keeps the same percentages for 2026.

By law the IRS cannot issue a refund on a return that claims the EITC before mid-February, and the hold covers the whole refund, not just the credit. For 2026 returns the IRS said most early filers who e-filed with direct deposit and had no problems would get their refund by March 2.

The IRS checks EITC claims closely and may write to ask for proof that a child lived with you or that self-employment income is real. If a claim is denied after an audit, you file Form 8862 to claim the credit again, and a claim found to be reckless can bar you for two years. Paid preparers must ask questions and keep records for every EITC return, on Form 8867.