Earned income credit calculator: federal EITC, your state credit and the child tax credit

What the earned income credit is

The earned income tax credit, written EITC or EIC on IRS forms, is set by section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code. It was created in 1975 to offset payroll taxes for low-wage workers and has become one of the largest federal supports for working families. It is refundable: the credit first reduces any income tax you owe, and the rest is paid to you with your refund. A family that owes no income tax at all receives the whole amount. That is why the credit matters most to the households that file the simplest returns, and why many people who qualify never claim it, simply because they were not required to file.

The amount follows a curve with three parts. It rises with each dollar earned at a fixed rate, 7.65% without a qualifying child, 34% with one, 40% with two and 45% with three or more. It then stays at its maximum on a plateau. Above a threshold, it falls back toward zero at 7.65%, 15.98% or 21.06% of each extra dollar. The IRS publishes the curve as a table in $50 bands, and the calculator above uses that table method exactly: for 2025 we checked every one of its 10,928 amounts against the table printed in the Form 1040 instructions.

The federal figures for 2025 and 2026

Each year the IRS adjusts the amounts for inflation by revenue procedure. Rev. Proc. 2024-40 sets the figures for tax year 2025, the return filed in 2026; Rev. Proc. 2025-32 sets those for 2026, the return filed in 2027.

The table shows why the number of children matters so much: the maximum with two children is eleven times the maximum without a child, and the credit lasts to three times the income. The EIC table tool gives the line for any amount, and the income limits page explains each threshold.

Who qualifies

Everyone who claims the credit needs earned income from work, wages, tips or net self-employment earnings, and both that income and AGI must be under the limit for the household. Investment income must not exceed the yearly cap, a strict cliff. You, your spouse and any child you claim need Social Security numbers valid for employment. Married people file jointly, except a spouse who lived apart from the other for the last six months of the year and has a qualifying child. Without a qualifying child, you or your spouse must also be 25 to 64 and live in the United States for more than half the year.

A qualifying child must pass four tests: relationship, age (under 19, or under 24 if a student), residency (more than half the year with you in the United States) and joint return. Those tests differ from the dependency rules and from the child tax credit, and they are the most common reason a claim is denied. The eligibility checker runs the numeric tests, and the qualifying child page covers the tie-breakers when two people could claim the same child.

State earned income credits

32 states and the District of Columbia pay an earned income credit of their own. The grid below shows each state's rule for 2025; states with a credit open a page with its form, its rule for 2026 and its amounts by income. Most take a percentage of the federal credit from your federal return, so they end at the same incomes and follow the same eligibility rules. The percentages range from 4% in Wisconsin for one child to 100% in the District of Columbia for 2025. A few states depart from the federal model. California prints its own table, which pays most at very low wages and ends at $32,900 of earned income for 2025, plus a Young Child Tax Credit. Minnesota combines a credit per child with a credit on wages. Washington, which has no income tax, pays a fixed amount by application. Oklahoma computes its 5% on the 2020 federal rules.

Two things change the value of a state credit beyond its rate. The first is refundability. Twenty-seven of the credits are refundable and paid in full. Ohio, Missouri, Utah and South Carolina only reduce state income tax, which households near the federal maximum often barely owe; Delaware and Maryland combine a refundable and a nonrefundable part. When your state's credit is nonrefundable, the calculator asks for your state tax before credits and caps the credit at that tax. The second is who is covered. California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington accept filers with an ITIN, who cannot claim the federal credit, and several states accept workers without a child from 18 or 19. The state comparison ranks every state for one household.

For 2026, four states change their rule in a way that matters: Colorado goes from 50% to 25%, the District of Columbia from 100% to 85%, Montana from 10% to 20%, and South Carolina caps its credit at $200. California, Minnesota and Washington publish their 2026 amounts with their 2026 forms; until then the calculator shows "not yet published" instead of a guess. Each state rule links to the official page we read it on.

The child tax credit, added

A family with children under 17 also receives the child tax credit. The 2025 reconciliation law set it at $2,200 per child for 2025, and Rev. Proc. 2025-32 keeps $2,200 for 2026. It first reduces income tax; the part left over is refunded as the additional child tax credit, up to $1,700 per child and up to 15% of earned income above $2,500. At low wages, a family owes no income tax, so it receives only the refundable part: $2,625 for the New Jersey parent of two with $20,000 above. The calculator estimates federal income tax with the standard deduction and the brackets to split the credit. The child tax credit page has its own calculator, and the saver's credit page covers the credit for retirement savings.

Common situations

Workers without a qualifying child receive at most $649 from the IRS for 2025, but Maine pays half as much again, Vermont matches the full amount, and several states accept them from age 18; see the page without children. Married couples add their incomes on one return, with a later phase-out; see the joint return page. Self-employed workers compute earned income after half the self-employment tax; see the self-employed page. Families with one child, two children or three or more each have a page with the amounts by income for both years.

Claiming it and getting paid

There is no separate application for the federal credit: it is claimed on Form 1040, with Schedule EIC for each qualifying child, and you must file to receive it even when your income is below the filing threshold. The state credit is claimed on the state return, except in Washington. IRS Free File and the VITA program prepare returns with the credit at no cost for most households who qualify, and the IRS EITC Assistant asks the official eligibility questions. By law, a refund on a return with the credit or the additional child tax credit cannot be issued before mid-February; see the refund date page. A credit missed in a past year can be claimed for up to three years. The claiming guide lists the documents to gather.

What this calculator does and does not do

It applies published rules to the figures you enter: the IRS table at your earned income and AGI, the investment income limit, the age test without a child, the Social Security number test, each state's rule for the year, and the child tax credit with an estimate of income tax on the standard deduction. It does not check whether a child meets the relationship and residency tests, which only you can answer; it does not compute the District of Columbia's formula for workers without a child, Maryland's county credits, Minnesota's add-on for children aged 18 or over, or the alternative refundable child tax credit for three or more children; and it ignores the other deductions of the 2025 law, such as those for tips, overtime and seniors, when it estimates income tax. Those cases are named where they apply. It is an estimate: the IRS and your state decide the credit on your return.

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