Earned Income Tax Credit Explained: Eligibility & Amounts

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable federal tax credit for workers with low or moderate earnings — including many workers who do not have children. Because it is refundable, it can reduce the tax you owe, and if the credit is larger than your tax, the IRS pays you the difference as part of your refund. There is only one way to receive it: file a federal tax return. The IRS then determines your actual credit from that return. How much you may receive depends on the tax year, your earned income and adjusted gross income (AGI), your filing status, your number of qualifying children, your investment income, and Social Security number rules. Checking your likely fit is free, and many households can also file for free.

Money Hope Now is an independent publisher — not the IRS, a government agency, or a tax preparer. This guide is general education, not individualized tax advice. The IRS determines your credit based on the return you file.

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Start here

• Check your fit first: run the free IRS EITC Assistant (in the official-path card below) if you worked in 2025 and are not sure whether the credit fits your household.
• File now if you are on extension: if you requested an extension for your 2025 return, you generally have until October 15, 2026 to file. Missing it does not forfeit a refund you are owed, but it ends the extension, and any tax you owed was already due in April. The free routes are still open — see the claim section.
• Look at earlier years if you worked in a prior year and never filed. Tax year 2022 closed on April 15, 2026 and cannot be reopened. Tax years 2023, 2024, and 2025 are still open — exact dates in the timing section.
• If you need food, shelter, or utility help this week, find immediate crisis help first — the EITC arrives only after a return is filed and processed, so it is never the fastest answer to an emergency.

Your first action: pick your year, then gather your records. The document checklist is in the claim section, and most of what it asks for comes from a payroll portal, an email inbox, and a folder of mail. If you do not have reliable internet or a payroll portal, a VITA site can help you assemble the same records.

On this page

• What the EITC is and which tax year applies
• The main eligibility gates
• Qualifying child or no qualifying child
• Income limits and maximum credits by tax year
• How to check, claim, and file for free
• If you decide to pay someone
• What your refund is protected from, and what it is not
• Timing, late claims, errors, and notices — including which past years you can still claim
• State and local earned income credits
• If your credit was denied or reduced
• Common questions
• Your next step
• Sources and last verified date

Which tax year are you dealing with? As of August 3, 2026:

Your situation	The return and figures that apply	Where the calendar stands
You earned the income in 2025	Your 2025 federal return, generally filed in 2026 — use the tax year 2025 table on this page	The regular April 15, 2026 deadline has passed; extension filers generally have until October 15, 2026 to file
You are earning the income in 2026	Your 2026 federal return, generally filed in 2027 — use the tax year 2026 planning table	Nothing to file yet for 2026 earnings; the figures are for planning

And if you do nothing, nothing happens. The EITC is not banked, accrued, or paid out later — an unclaimed year is worth $0, up to the $8,046 maximum for tax year 2025, and after roughly three years the money is gone for good.

One boundary matters before anything else: the EITC is not emergency cash. It is paid only after you file a return and the IRS processes it — no official version of the credit arrives as an advance, a grant, or a same-week payment, and products promising faster access for a fee reduce what you keep.

The official free path

Official route	What it does	Cost
IRS EITC Assistant	Screens the current-year rules against your answers and estimates a possible credit — an estimate, not an approval	Free
IRS Free File	Guided tax software for filers with 2025 AGI of $89,000 or less (as of August 3, 2026), plus Free File Fillable Forms at any income level	Free federal filing
VITA and TCE free tax help	IRS-certified volunteers prepare and file returns in person for eligible taxpayers. Find a site with the VITA locator or by calling 800-906-9887	Free

Checking eligibility and claiming the EITC never requires paying anyone — every official route above is free.

What decides your credit: the tax year your income belongs to, your earned income and your AGI, your filing status, your number of qualifying children (zero is allowed), your investment income, valid Social Security numbers for everyone on the claim, and your citizenship or residency status. Each is explained below.

What the EITC is and which tax year applies

Tax years covered on this page: 2025 (returns generally filed in 2026) and 2026 (returns generally filed in 2027).

The EITC is a credit written into federal tax law for people who work and earn low to moderate income. It works in two stages. First, it reduces the federal income tax you owe for the year, dollar for dollar. Second, because the credit is refundable, any amount left over after your tax reaches zero is paid to you as part of your refund. A worker who owes $500 in tax and qualifies for a $3,000 credit does not just erase the tax bill — the remaining $2,500 becomes refund money. That refundability is why the EITC matters so much to households living close to their budgets, and it is also why so many pages online talk about it carelessly.

Two things the EITC is not: it is not a benefit program you enroll in, and it is not an advance. There is no separate application, no agency office, and no waiting list. Your federal tax return is the application, and the IRS's processing of that return is the decision. If you skip filing, the credit simply never exists for you, no matter how clearly you would have qualified.

The single most common mistake in EITC research is applying the wrong year's numbers. Every limit and maximum on this page belongs to a specific tax year, and the tax year is the year you earned the money — not the year you file. Income earned in 2025 goes on a 2025 return, generally filed during 2026, and uses 2025 figures. Income you are earning now, in 2026, will go on a 2026 return generally filed in 2027, using 2026 figures. Some widely read pages still display figures that are several tax years old, so treat any EITC number you find without a tax-year label as unusable.

Who actually runs the EITC

Layer	Who decides	What it changes for you
Federal rules	Congress writes the credit into the Internal Revenue Code; the IRS administers it and publishes each year's figures, forms, and tools	The eligibility rules, annual limits, maximum credits, forms, and the federal filing deadline — the same in every state
State and local add-ons	State legislatures and some local governments create separate earned income credits claimed on state or local returns	Whether a second, separate credit exists where you live, with its own rules and amounts
Local delivery of free help	IRS-certified volunteer programs (VITA and TCE) operate through community sites	Where and when free in-person preparation help is available near you; capacity is seasonal and varies by site
Your individual determination	The IRS, from your filed return	The credit you actually receive, any follow-up requests, and your correction and appeal path if you disagree with a notice

Every federal figure on this page carries a verified official source and its tax year; nothing here is inferred from a different year, estimated from a trend, or borrowed from another jurisdiction's rules. Where a state figure could not be confirmed with the state's own agency, the state section says so in the row rather than presenting it as settled.

The main eligibility gates

The rules below are federal rules for tax years 2025 and 2026, drawn from the IRS's who-qualifies guidance, verified July 25, 2026.

Six gates control the federal EITC. You need to clear all of them for the same tax year. None of them asks whether you deserve help, how steady your hours were, or whether you have claimed the credit before — they are mechanical tests, and the table below states each one plainly. Where your situation does not map cleanly onto a rule, the answer is not to guess; it is to let the IRS EITC Assistant or free qualified help apply the rules to your facts.

Gate	The published rule	If you are unsure
1. Earned income and AGI	You must have earned income from work, and both your earned income and your AGI must be below the completed-phaseout limit for your filing status and number of qualifying children (tables below)	The Assistant applies the current figures to your answers
2. Investment income	Your investment income must be at or below the year's cap: $11,950 for tax year 2025, $12,200 for tax year 2026. Above the cap, no EITC is allowed for that year	Count interest, dividends, capital gains, and rental income
3. Filing status	Single, head of household, qualifying surviving spouse, or married filing jointly. Married filing separately can qualify only under a narrow separated-spouse rule with a qualifying child	See the filing-status note below
4. Social Security numbers	You, your spouse on a joint return, and each child you claim need SSNs that are valid for employment, issued by the return's due date including extensions. ITINs and cards marked "Not valid for employment" do not meet this rule	Mixed-status or uncertain households should use free qualified help rather than guessing
5. Citizenship or residency	You — and your spouse, on a joint return — must be a U.S. citizen or a resident alien for the full year, with limited exceptions handled on the return	Route the question to the IRS guidance or qualified help
6. No foreign earned income exclusion	You cannot file Form 2555 (foreign earned income). Special rules exist for military, clergy, disability, and some self-employment situations	See the special-situations note below

What counts as earned income. For the EITC, earned income means taxable pay from working: wages, salaries, and tips; gig and freelance income even when no tax was withheld — rideshare driving, deliveries, tasks, online selling; net earnings from self-employment or a farm; taxable union strike benefits; certain disability benefits received before minimum retirement age; and nontaxable combat pay if you elect to include it. Earned income does not include interest or dividends, pensions or annuities, Social Security benefits, unemployment benefits, alimony, or child support. Those amounts are not irrelevant to your taxes — several still belong on your return and can raise your AGI — they simply do not count as earnings for this credit. If you lost a job this year, the benefits system is a separate track: here is how to file for unemployment.

Tips and overtime still count. Tips and overtime are wages, and they remain part of your earned income for the EITC. Separately, for tax years 2025 through 2028 there are new deductions for qualified tips and qualified overtime, claimed on Schedule 1-A and available whether or not you itemize. Those deductions reduce taxable income; they are not a reason to leave tip or overtime income off your return, and leaving it off would understate the earned income your EITC is calculated from.

Earned income and AGI are two different numbers. Your AGI is your total income minus specific adjustments, so it can be higher or lower than your pay. The EITC tests both figures against the same limit, which is why a single "income limit for the EITC" quoted without context is unreliable: a household can pass on wages and fail on AGI, or the reverse.

Picture a worker whose wages sit below the limit for her row but who also received taxable unemployment benefits for part of the year. The benefits are not earned income, yet they raise her AGI. If the AGI crosses the line, the credit is not allowed even though her pay alone would have passed. The reverse pattern shows up for self-employed filers, where adjustments can pull AGI below wages. Neither number is a guess; both come off the return itself.

The filing-status note. Married filing separately is not automatically disqualifying, though it once was. A separated spouse who files separately can qualify only when all of the following are true:

• A qualifying child lived with them for more than half the year; and
• Either they did not live with their spouse during the last six months of the year, or they are legally separated under a written agreement or decree and living apart at year-end.

This rule is narrow and fact-specific — if it might describe you, confirm it through the IRS guidance or free qualified help rather than a summary, including this one.

Military, clergy, disability, and self-employment. Military members can elect to include nontaxable combat pay as earned income, which can raise or lower the credit; clergy have their own earned-income rules; and self-employment income must be reported with all allowable expenses — you cannot skip deductions to enlarge the credit. Disability income splits along the same earned-versus-not line as everything else: certain employer disability benefits received before minimum retirement age count as earned income, while Social Security disability payments do not. The IRS's military and clergy rules page and Publication 596 carry the detail. Eligible military community members can also file free through MilTax from Military OneSource.

Qualifying child or no qualifying child

A "qualifying child" for the EITC is a specific legal test, not a synonym for dependent — a child can be your dependent without being your EITC qualifying child, and the reverse can also be true. The IRS qualifying-child rules set five tests, and a child must meet all of them for the tax year:

Test	What the child must meet (tax years 2025 and 2026)
Social Security number	An SSN valid for employment, issued by the return's due date including extensions
Age	Under 19 at year-end and younger than you (or your spouse on a joint return); under 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year and younger than you; or any age if permanently and totally disabled
Relationship	Your child, stepchild, adopted child, or eligible foster child; your sibling, half-sibling, or step-sibling; or a descendant of any of them, such as a grandchild, niece, or nephew
Residency	Lived with you in the United States for more than half the year, with limited official exceptions
Joint return	The child cannot file a joint return for the year, except solely to claim a refund of withheld or estimated tax

When more than one person could claim the same child. Shared households are common — two parents, a parent and a grandparent, siblings raising a niece — and the tax code resolves overlaps with tie-breaker rules, not with informal tests like who paid more or who claimed the child last year. Do not settle it at the kitchen table and hope. If more than one person may qualify to claim a child, run the facts through the IRS EITC Assistant or Publication 596 before anyone files. When two returns claim the same child anyway, both can be delayed while the IRS applies the tie-breakers and asks at least one filer for documentation.

The no-child pathway. You can qualify for the EITC with no qualifying child at all, which surprises many single workers who assume the credit is only for parents. Beyond the six gates above, you must have had your main home in the United States for more than half the year, you cannot be claimable as another taxpayer's qualifying child or dependent, and you must generally be at least 25 but under 65 at the end of the year — on a joint return, at least one spouse must meet the age rule. The maximum credit without a child is much smaller than with children, but for a worker on a tight budget it is still real money that only arrives if a return is filed.

Blended custody schedules, multi-generation homes, and mid-year moves create edge cases the tables cannot settle. Those are exactly the cases the Assistant and free in-person help exist for — using them is not a failure of understanding; it is how careful filers avoid a delayed refund.

Find your situation. Locate yourself in the list below and take the one step next to it:

• Single worker, no children, aged 25 to 64. The no-child pathway above applies to you. Run the Assistant, then file — the credit is smaller but real.
• Gig, app-based, or self-employed worker. Report net earnings with all allowable expenses. Reconstruct expense records before you start, because both an overstated and an understated figure change the credit.
• Shared or alternating custody. Settle the tie-breakers before anyone files, using the Assistant or Publication 596.
• Multi-generation household. More than one adult may be able to claim the same child. Work it out together first; in-person help is worth the appointment here.
• Mixed-status household. Gate 4 turns on Social Security numbers valid for employment, so an ITIN does not support a federal claim. Several states run their own credits that ITIN filers can claim — see if you file with an ITIN — and use free qualified help rather than guessing.
• You live in a state with its own credit. Finish the federal return first, then check state and local earned income credits; most state credits are built on the federal claim, and one needs a separate application.
• Filing jointly does not feel safe. If a partner controls the return, the bank account, or the documents, see the note in what your refund is protected from.
• You had a claim denied in a past year. Do not simply claim it again; go to the denial section first.
• You worked in an earlier year and never filed. Check which years are still open in the timing section before doing anything else.

Income limits and maximum credits by tax year

Tax year 2025 figures apply to returns generally filed in 2026; tax year 2026 figures apply to returns generally filed in 2027.

The figures below are completed-phaseout limits — the income level at or above which no credit is allowed for that filing group and child count. They are not a single "EITC income limit," and being just under one does not mean receiving the maximum. The credit phases in as earnings rise, holds at the maximum across a middle range, then phases out as income climbs toward the limit; a household near the top of the range receives a small credit, not a large one. Both your earned income and your AGI must sit below the limit that matches your row.

Tax year 2025 — the current filing table

Qualifying children	All other eligible filing statuses	Married filing jointly	Maximum credit
0	$19,104	$26,214	$649
1	$50,434	$57,554	$4,328
2	$57,310	$64,430	$7,152
3 or more	$61,555	$68,675	$8,046

Tax year 2025 (returns generally filed in 2026). Income figures are completed-phaseout limits; both earned income and AGI must be below the amount for your filing status and child count. Investment income must be $11,950 or less. The maximum credit is a ceiling, not a personal estimate. Source: IRS EITC tables, verified July 25, 2026.

How to read your row. Find the row matching your number of qualifying children, then the column matching your filing status — the law sets the joint-filer limits higher, which is why married filing jointly has its own column, and "all other eligible filing statuses" covers single, head of household, qualifying surviving spouse, and the narrow separated-spouse cases. If both your earned income and your AGI sit below that cell's amount and you clear the other gates, you appear within the published limit for the year. That is a screen, not a result: it tells you the claim is worth pursuing, while the credit itself is set by the full return.

The maximum is not your estimate. No table can tell you your credit, because the exact amount depends on your full return — precise earned income, AGI, filing status, and children — as it moves through the phase-in and phaseout schedule. For an official estimate built from your own facts, use the IRS EITC Assistant.

Tax year 2026 — the planning table

Qualifying children	All other eligible filing statuses	Married filing jointly	Maximum credit
0	$19,540	$26,820	$664
1	$51,593	$58,863	$4,427
2	$58,629	$65,899	$7,316
3 or more	$62,974	$70,244	$8,231

Tax year 2026 (returns generally filed in 2027). Both earned income and AGI must be below the applicable completed-phaseout amount. Investment income cannot exceed $12,200. Source: IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-45, verified August 3, 2026. These figures follow the revenue procedure as technically corrected in October 2025, which is why the married-filing-jointly figure for three or more children reads $20 higher here than on some commercial tables.

The investment-income cap is a hard cutoff. Investment income for this test includes interest, dividends, capital gains, and net rental income. If it lands even slightly above the year's cap, the EITC is not allowed for that year regardless of how modest your wages were — a one-time capital gain or an unusual rental year can matter, so count this number rather than assuming it is small.

The 2026 table exists for planning, not filing. Nothing about 2026 earnings can be filed until 2027, but the shape of next year's figures helps a household anticipate where it stands as hours, pay, or family circumstances change. When you do file, the return will use the final published figures for that tax year, not this page.

How to check, claim, and file for free

The claim process is a filing process. Here is the whole of it, in order:

1. Choose the tax year. Most readers right now are dealing with a 2025 return; income being earned in 2026 waits until next year.
2. Gather your records using the checklist below, and add your Identity Protection PIN if the IRS has issued you one — a return filed without a required IP PIN will stall.
3. Run the IRS EITC Assistant. You answer general questions about income, family, and filing status; the result is a free, official screening and estimate, not a determination, and it files nothing.
4. Pick your route from the table below.
5. Prepare Form 1040 or 1040-SR, and attach Schedule EIC if you are claiming a qualifying child — no Schedule EIC is needed for a no-child claim. The IRS how-to-claim page walks through the forms.
6. Review before you submit, checking your entries against the common errors in the timing section — names and SSNs exactly as printed on the cards, filing status, and complete income.
7. File, then keep everything: a copy of the return, the e-file confirmation, and the records behind any child claim. The IRS notes that filing electronically with direct deposit is the fastest way to receive a refund; paper returns take longer at every stage.

What to gather before you start

Most of this list comes from a payroll portal, an email inbox, and a folder of mail:

• ☐ W-2s and 1099s for the year, plus records of any cash, gig, or app-based income
• ☐ Self-employment expense records — mileage, supplies, phone, platform fees
• ☐ Records of tax withheld or estimated payments made
• ☐ Your filing-status facts: marital status at year-end, who lived in your home, and for how long
• ☐ For each child you may claim: full name, Social Security number, date of birth, and something showing where the child lived during the year (school, medical, or lease records help)
• ☐ Last year's return, if you have it
• ☐ Any IRS letters, and your Identity Protection PIN if the IRS issued you one

If income documents are missing for an old year, you do not have to track down every former employer: an IRS wage and income transcript shows what employers and payers reported for that year.

After you file, the process runs without you for a while, and that quiet is normal. There is no need to call the IRS, refile, or pay anyone to "check on" a return that was just submitted — your e-file confirmation is the proof it arrived, and the status tools in the timing section below show where it stands.

Comparing your routes

Route	Cost	Good fit when	Not a fit when, and what to check first
IRS Free File guided software	Free federal filing	Your 2025 AGI is $89,000 or less and you want step-by-step software. One sitting for most simple returns	Not a fit if your 2025 AGI is above $89,000, or if a partner's own limits exclude you. Each partner sets extra criteria such as age, state, or military status; start from IRS.gov — not a search ad — so you land on the genuinely free version
Free File Fillable Forms	Free federal filing	Any income level; you are comfortable following IRS instructions on your own. Usually one sitting, longer if you are checking as you go	Not a fit if you want guidance or need a state return. Federal forms only, with limited automatic calculations, so you are doing the reading and the math yourself
VITA or TCE volunteer help	Free	Generally lower-income households, persons with disabilities, and limited-English speakers who want in-person help. Usually one appointment, plus travel and wait	Not a fit if no site near you is open in your window, or if your return is outside a site's scope. Many sites operate mainly during filing season; use the VITA locator or call 800-906-9887. Before you travel, ask the site three things: can you handle a prior-year return, do you need an appointment, and what should I bring
MilTax through Military OneSource	Free	Active-duty service members, eligible family members, survivors, and recent veterans. One sitting, like other guided software	Not a fit outside that eligibility, or outside the season. Eligibility is verified through DEERS, and the software runs from mid-January to mid-October rather than year-round
A qualified tax professional	Paid; ask for the full fee in dollars before any work starts	Complex custody, self-employment, a prior denial, or a notice you do not understand. One appointment plus preparation time, and longer at the season's peak	Not a fit if a free route covers your situation — paid help is never required to claim this credit. Use the IRS guidance on choosing a tax professional; you remain responsible for your return even when someone else prepares it
Not filing at all	$0 today, and the entire credit forfeited — up to $8,046 for tax year 2025	Not a fit for anyone who worked and clears the gates	Not a fit in almost every case. Not filing also forfeits any withheld tax you would have gotten back, and closes off most state credits, which build on the federal claim

Every route above was verified on IRS.gov and Military OneSource on August 3, 2026, at the same depth: program page, eligibility rule, and cost. One field cannot be verified from here for any route — whether a particular VITA or TCE site near you is open, has capacity, and can handle your return — so that one is checked by calling the site.

Once the official routes above are done — and only then — you may want to compare actually free tax-filing routes in more depth, including how "free" offers differ from genuinely free filing.

A word on privacy, because this credit attracts imitators: Money Hope Now never asks you to upload, email, or enter W-2s, Social Security numbers, IDs, bank details, tax returns, or child records — anywhere, ever. Enter tax information only into official IRS tools and the secure filing route you chose above. And whoever prepares your return, review it before signing, make sure your refund is directed to your own account, and keep a copy; the signature on the return makes it yours.

If you decide to pay someone

Nothing in the official EITC path costs money, and most EITC claims are completed on one of the free routes above. But some returns are genuinely complicated, and some people simply want a person to do it. If you are going to pay, three patterns are worth knowing first, because the EITC produces the largest refunds many households ever see and that attracts sellers.

• Refund advance loans and refund transfer products. These move money to you sooner, or take the preparation fee out of your refund, for a cost. Ask two questions before agreeing: what is the total cost in dollars, and what date would the refund have arrived for free? The gap is usually days, and the cost is not.
• Fees charged as a share of your refund. A price that rises with the size of your credit is a signal, not a service. Ask for the fee in dollars, in writing, before any work starts.
• Preparers who will not sign. A paid preparer must sign the return and enter their preparer identification number. An unsigned return, or a refund routed to anyone's account but your own, is the point to walk away — and the IRS guidance on choosing a tax professional explains what to check.

Be equally cautious of anyone who charges a fee just to "check" your eligibility, promises a specific refund amount before seeing your documents, or asks for your Social Security number or bank details outside a secure official filing route.

What your refund is protected from, and what it is not

Many households delay filing because they are afraid the money will cost them something else. On the biggest of those fears, the law is on your side — and on the other, it is better to know before the refund arrives than after.

Your refund does not count against your benefits. Under 26 U.S.C. §6409, a federal tax refund — including the refundable part of a credit like the EITC — is not counted as income, and is not counted as a resource for 12 months after you receive it, when eligibility is determined for any federal program or any state or local program financed in whole or in part with federal funds. In plain terms: claiming the EITC should not by itself reduce or end assistance you already receive, and the money should not push you over a resource limit during that first year. Programs administer this through their own state agencies, so if a caseworker asks about the refund, the statute is what to point to, and your state agency is who applies it. Our guides to how SNAP works and Medicaid eligibility cover those programs' own rules.

Two limits on that protection are worth knowing. The statute reaches federal programs and programs financed in part with federal funds; a purely state- or locally-funded program is outside its scope, so ask the agency that runs it. And the 12-month resource protection runs out. Money still sitting in an account more than a year after the refund arrives can count as a resource again for programs that have resource limits.

Your refund can be reduced to pay certain debts. This is separate from the benefit rules and works through the Treasury Offset Program, run by the Treasury Department's Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Before a refund is paid, it is checked against a database of past-due debts, and a match can reduce or eliminate the payment. The EITC portion is not exempt. If it happens, you receive a notice naming the amount, the agency that received it, and how to contact them; the IRS explains the process on its reduced refund page.

Debt type	Can it reduce your federal refund?	Who to ask about it
Past-due child support	Yes	Your state child support agency
Federal agency debts, including defaulted federal student loans	Yes	The agency named in your notice; for student loans, Federal Student Aid — whether offsets are being taken at any given time has changed more than once, so confirm current status rather than assuming either way
State income tax debt	Yes	Your state tax agency
Certain state unemployment compensation debts	Yes	Your state unemployment agency
Federal tax you owe for another year	Yes	The IRS

None of this is a reason not to file. A refund that is reduced still pays down a debt you owed, an offset notice tells you where a debt stands that you may have lost track of, and the years you do not file are years you get nothing at all. If you file jointly and the past-due debt belongs only to your spouse, a separate IRS process exists for claiming your share of the refund — that is a good question for free qualified help.

If filing jointly is not safe for you, that is a different problem from a tax problem. A partner who controls the return, the bank account a refund is routed to, or the documents you would need is a recognized pattern, and this credit — often the largest single sum a household sees in a year — is a common pressure point. Free confidential support is available from the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by texting START to 88788. A VITA or TCE volunteer can also talk through your filing options with you privately. The IRS has separate processes for a spouse's debt and for a spouse's errors on a joint return, and which one fits depends on facts worth working through with someone rather than deciding alone.

Timing, late claims, errors, and notices

Deadline status below is current as of August 3, 2026 — recheck if you are reading this later, and note that disaster-relief postponements can change individual deadlines.

For 2025 returns, the regular April 15, 2026 deadline has passed. Taxpayers who requested an extension generally have until October 15, 2026 to file, and the IRS has confirmed that free filing options remain available to extension filers this season. An extension moved the filing date, not the payment date — tax owed was still due in April, and interest applies to unpaid balances — but for a household owed a refund, the practical instruction is simple: file as soon as your records are complete.

Your situation	What generally applies	Your next move
You requested an extension for your 2025 return	You generally have until October 15, 2026 to file	File now through the free routes above rather than waiting for the deadline
You missed the deadline and never requested an extension	You can generally still file and claim a refund you are owed	File the 2025 return now — do not wait for next season
You worked in an earlier year and never filed	Each year has its own hard deadline; see the table below	Check your year's status before assuming anything
You filed and are waiting on your refund	By law, refunds on early-season returns claiming the EITC cannot be issued before mid-February; after that, timing depends on your return, not a schedule	Use Where's My Refund or your IRS online account for your own status
You received an IRS letter about your EITC	The notice states what the IRS changed or needs, and its own response deadline	Follow the notice steps below

Which past years you can still claim

Federal law gives you roughly three years to file a return and claim a refund for that year. The IRS states the consequence of missing it plainly: if you do not file within three years, the money becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury. One date does double duty this year and is easy to misread: April 15, 2026 was both the regular filing deadline for 2025 returns and the last day to claim a 2022 refund. They are separate deadlines for separate years.

Tax year	Last day to claim a refund	Status as of August 3, 2026	What this means for you
2022	April 15, 2026, per the IRS	Closed	A 2022 refund, including any EITC, can no longer be claimed. Filing the return may still be worth doing for other reasons, but no refund will be issued
2023	Generally April 15, 2027	Open	File the 2023 return now rather than near the date
2024	Generally April 15, 2028	Open	File the 2024 return now
2025	Generally April 15, 2029	Open	File now; October 15, 2026 is the separate extension deadline if you requested one

This deadline cannot be cured after it passes. There is no extension, appeal, or hardship request that reopens a closed refund year, and filing an extension for a later year does not move it. Very limited exceptions exist in the law for people who were unable to manage their affairs during the period; they are narrow and fact-specific, and they are a reason to get free qualified help rather than to assume. The dates for 2023 through 2025 above follow the general three-year rule from each return's original due date; weekends, holidays, and disaster postponements can shift a particular year, so confirm your own year's date before you rely on it.

One state runs on a different calendar. Washington's Working Families Tax Credit is applied for separately from the federal return and has its own windows: the Department of Revenue accepts tax year 2025 applications through December 31, 2029 and still accepts applications for 2023 and 2024, with 2026 stated as the final year for tax year 2022. So a Washington household can have a live state claim for a year the federal table above marks Closed. If you live in Washington, check the year you are asking about with the Department of Revenue before you assume it is gone.

One practical note for prior-year claims: each year has its own forms and its own figures, so do not reuse a current-year table for an old return. If the records are gone, the wage and income transcript in the checklist above covers it.

The mid-February refund hold is worth understanding rather than resenting: it is written into law so the IRS can match reported income against employer and payer records before paying out refundable credits, which protects the program the money comes from. It applies to early-season filers claiming the EITC; a return filed now, in summer, is past that seasonal gate and simply moves through normal processing.

The errors that actually delay and deny this credit

The IRS publishes the list, and it is short and consistent. Every one of these is preventable at the review step.

Error	Why it happens	How to prevent it
Claiming a child who does not meet all five qualifying-child tests	The child is a dependent, or lives nearby, and the tests are assumed rather than checked	Walk the five tests one at a time before you file
Two people claiming the same child	Shared or alternating custody, settled informally	Sort out who qualifies before anyone files, using the Assistant or Publication 596
Names or Social Security numbers that do not match the card	Entered from memory, or a name changed after marriage or adoption	Read every name and number off the actual Social Security card
The wrong filing status, most often head of household	The rules for head of household are stricter than they sound	Confirm the status separately from the credit; free qualified help is worth it here
Income over- or underreported, including self-employment income filed without its real expenses	A missing 1099, or expenses left off to enlarge the credit	Match every income document you received against the return, and claim all allowable expenses

Any of these can delay a refund, trigger an audit, or lead to a denied credit — and a denied claim can bring repayment and restrictions on claiming the credit in later years, covered in the next section.

If a notice arrives, it is a process, not a verdict. Read the letter completely, confirm which tax year it covers, and respond by the stated deadline with the documents it asks for — school, medical, or lease records often resolve child-residency questions. Keep copies of everything you send. If you have tried the normal IRS channels and still face an unresolved problem causing hardship, the Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent route within the IRS, though it cannot guarantee acceptance of a case or an outcome. A notice you do not understand is a good reason for free qualified help, not a reason to ignore the envelope.

State and local earned income credits

Find your state in one of the three places below. If it is not in the first two tables, it is in the no-credit list at the end of this section — and that is a real answer, not a gap.

Many states — and a few cities and counties — run their own earned income credits on top of the federal one. Most are calculated as a percentage of your federal credit and claimed on your state return, which is why completing the federal claim first is usually the key that opens both doors. A few are built on their own formula instead, and one requires a separate application.

Refundability is the field that matters most to a household with little or no state tax liability. A refundable state credit can be paid to you as money; a non-refundable one can only reduce state tax you actually owe, so a filer who owes no state tax receives nothing from it.

A word about where these figures come from, because it matters here. The IRS publishes a list of states and local governments with an earned income tax credit, which it last reviewed on November 26, 2025, and most published state-credit tables are copied from it. We checked a sample of those rows against the state agencies themselves on August 3, 2026, and roughly half came back contradicted. Colorado's rate had fallen, not risen — the list's 50 percent is the 2024 figure, and the Department of Revenue publishes 35 percent for tax year 2025. The District of Columbia and Virginia had both raised their rates. Delaware and Maryland turned out to run two credits rather than one. California and Minnesota do not calculate their credits as a percentage of the federal credit at all.

So this section is split by how strong the evidence is, and every row says which it is. Treat that as the honest state of the record rather than a reason to skip your state: a stale rate is still a signpost to the right agency.

Credits we verified with the state agency

Each row below was checked against the administering state agency's own page on August 3, 2026 for tax year 2025.

Jurisdiction	How the credit works for tax year 2025	Refundable?
California	CalEITC runs on California's own schedule, not as a percentage of the federal credit. You need earned income of at least $1 and no more than $32,900, and you must be 18 or older or have a qualifying child — so a household near the top of the federal range can pass federally and still receive nothing from California	Yes
Colorado	35 percent of your federal credit for tax year 2025 — down from 50 percent for 2024, and set to fall to 25 percent for 2026. Colorado also pays the credit to ITIN filers and to certain filers under 25 who cannot claim the federal credit, using form DR 0104TN	Yes
Delaware	You choose one of two credits: 20 percent of your federal credit, non-refundable and capped at the Delaware tax you owe, or 4.5 percent of your federal credit, with any amount above your Delaware tax refunded to you	On the 4.5 percent option only
District of Columbia	100 percent of your federal credit for tax year 2025, raised from 70 percent for 2024. A DC credit of $1,200 or more can be taken as twelve monthly payments instead of one lump sum; the District warns that choosing monthly payments may affect benefits such as SNAP, so ask your caseworker before electing it	Yes
Illinois	20 percent of your federal credit. Illinois also pays it to ITIN filers and to workers aged 18 to 24 and 65 and over without a qualifying child, none of whom can claim the federal credit. If you qualify and have a child under 12, Illinois adds a child tax credit worth 40 percent of your Illinois EITC	Yes
Maryland	Two separate credits: a non-refundable credit of 50 percent of your federal credit, and a refundable credit of 45 percent. Some counties add a local credit on top. Maryland also admits ITIN filers and childless adults under 25, who cannot claim the federal credit	On the 45 percent credit
Minnesota	The Working Family Credit runs on Minnesota's own formula, not a percentage of the federal credit: 4 percent of your first $9,480 of earned income for tax year 2025, up to $379, with additions for qualifying older children, phased down with the state child credit above an income threshold	Yes
Missouri	Working Family Tax Credit, 20 percent of your federal credit for tax year 2025, claimed on Form MO-WFTC with your Missouri return. Missouri applies its own investment-income limit of $4,400	No — it cannot be refunded and cannot be carried forward
New York State	30 percent of your allowable federal credit, reduced by the amount of any New York household credit	Yes
Pennsylvania	Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit, 10 percent of your federal credit up to a maximum of $805, new for tax year 2025. Anyone who qualifies federally qualifies for it, and the Department of Revenue calculates it automatically when you file both returns online together	Yes — the department states you can receive it even if you owe no Pennsylvania income tax
Utah	20 percent of your federal credit, but limited to your total Utah wages shown on a W-2 — so self-employment income without W-2 wages does not support the credit	No — no carryforward or carryback
Virginia	For tax years 2025 and 2026 the refundable Virginia credit is 20 percent of your federal credit, raised from 15 percent. A 20 percent non-refundable credit is the alternative; you claim one, not both, and the refundable option is for full-year residents	On the refundable option
Washington	Working Families Tax Credit, a set refund amount rather than a percentage — up to $1,330 for tax year 2025, depending on children and income. It requires a separate application to the Department of Revenue after you file your federal return, and filers with an ITIN can qualify	Yes — it is paid as a refund, since Washington has no state income tax

Four of these — Missouri, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Washington — do not appear on the IRS list at all. If you live in one of these, the IRS list alone would tell you there is nothing to claim, and that would be wrong.

Credits carried from the IRS list

The rates below are as published on the IRS's state-credit list, which the IRS last reviewed on November 26, 2025. We did not re-check these rows with each state agency, and the sample above shows that list can lag a state's own rules. Treat these as a starting point and confirm the current rate on your state's page before you rely on a figure. Each state name links to the page the IRS list points to; a few of those are agency index pages rather than dedicated credit pages.

State or local government	Credit as a percentage of the federal credit	Refundable?
Connecticut	40 percent	Yes
Hawaii	40 percent	Yes
Indiana	10 percent	Yes
Iowa	15 percent	Yes
Kansas	17 percent	Yes
Louisiana	5 percent	Yes
Maine	25 percent, or 50 percent with no qualifying children	Yes
Massachusetts	40 percent	Yes
Michigan	30 percent	Yes
Montana	10 percent	Yes
Nebraska	10 percent	Yes
New Jersey	40 percent	Yes
New Mexico	25 percent	Yes
New York City	10 to 30 percent, on top of the New York State credit; claimed on the New York State return	Yes
Ohio	30 percent	No
Oklahoma	5 percent	Yes
Oregon	9 percent, or 12 percent with a qualifying child under age 3	Yes
Rhode Island	16 percent	Yes
South Carolina	125 percent	No
Vermont	38 percent	Yes
Wisconsin	4 percent with one child, 11 percent with two, 34 percent with three	Yes

If you file with an ITIN

The federal credit is closed to you: gate 4 requires a Social Security number valid for employment, and an ITIN does not meet it. That is a federal rule and it does not vary by state.

Several states have opened their own credits to ITIN filers anyway. Eleven jurisdictions do so as of this review: California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. We confirmed this directly with the state agency for California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington on August 3, 2026. The remaining five come from published state-credit tracking rather than from a check of each agency's own page, so confirm yours before you rely on it.

Colorado and Illinois are worth naming twice, because both also open their credit to workers a federal rule shuts out on age: Illinois pays workers aged 18 to 24 and 65 and over without a qualifying child, and Colorado pays certain filers under 25.

If your state is not on that list, that is not a "no" — it means we have not confirmed a yes. Ask your state tax agency, or ask at a VITA or TCE site, which handles mixed-status returns routinely. Washington is worth a second look for ITIN filers in particular, because its credit is a direct refund rather than a reduction in tax, and it is applied for separately.

States with no earned income credit

Eighteen states have no state earned income credit as of this review: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming. If you live in one of them, your federal claim is the whole job and there is no second credit to chase. To confirm that is still true, the IRS maintains a directory of state government tax websites.

Two limitations on this section, stated plainly. State legislatures change these credits most often in the months after a budget passes — Pennsylvania's credit is a live example, created in November 2025 and first claimable on 2025 returns, and the District of Columbia's rate moved for the same tax year. And a percentage is only the headline rate: several states layer their own income limits, residency rules, age rules, or investment-income limits on top, so confirm the detail on your own state's page before you rely on a figure.

If your credit was denied or reduced

A denial in a past year changes what you have to do next, and claiming the credit again as though nothing happened is the one approach that reliably fails.

If the IRS reduced or disallowed your EITC for anything other than a simple math or clerical error, you generally must file Form 8862, Information To Claim Certain Credits After Disallowance, with the return for the next year you claim the credit — not with the year that was denied. Without it, the claim is denied again.

Two longer restrictions can also apply. The IRS states that a taxpayer whose claim was disallowed must pay back any amount refunded in error, plus interest, and may be banned from claiming the credit for two years if the error is found to be due to reckless or intentional disregard of the rules, or for ten years if it is found to be due to fraud. A ban is not something Form 8862 shortens; during a ban the credit is simply not allowed.

The practical sequence is short. Find the notice that told you what happened and read which finding it describes, because a math-error adjustment, an ordinary disallowance, and a ban are three different situations with three different routes. If a ban applies, note the years it covers. If it does not, file Form 8862 with your next claim and be ready to document the child's relationship and residency. And if the notice is unclear or you disagree with it, this is one of the strongest cases for free qualified help — a VITA or TCE site, or the Taxpayer Advocate Service if the problem is unresolved and causing hardship.

Searches about IRS problems tend to surface tax resolution and tax relief firms, which charge fees to handle exactly this kind of correspondence. Whatever such a firm would do here, the Taxpayer Advocate Service does at no cost, and a VITA or TCE volunteer can read a notice with you for nothing. If you decide to pay someone anyway, the checks in if you decide to pay someone apply here too, and be wary of any promise about the outcome — no one can guarantee how the IRS will decide your case. A past denial does not make you permanently ineligible, and it is not a reason to stop filing.

Common questions

Can I qualify for the EITC without a qualifying child?

Yes. Workers without a qualifying child can claim a smaller credit if they meet the six gates plus three extra rules: a main home in the United States for more than half the year, not being claimable as anyone's qualifying child or dependent, and generally being 25 through 64 at year-end — on a joint return, one spouse meeting the age rule is enough. The IRS EITC Assistant screens these rules directly.

Do unemployment or Social Security benefits count as earned income?

No. The IRS excludes both from earned income for the EITC, along with interest, dividends, pensions, alimony, and child support. That does not make them irrelevant: several still belong on your tax return and can raise your AGI, which is separately tested against the limit. What the exclusion means is narrower — benefits alone, with no work income, cannot generate an EITC.

Do I have to file a tax return to get the EITC?

Yes, always. The credit exists only on a filed federal return — Form 1040 or 1040-SR, with Schedule EIC attached when you claim a qualifying child. That holds even when your income is below the level that would otherwise require you to file: skipping the return does not just delay the credit, it forfeits it for that year until you file.

What happens if another person claims the same child?

The IRS applies tie-breaker rules in the law — not first-to-file, and not who spent more. Both returns can be slowed while at least one filer is asked to document the child's relationship and residency. The safer sequence is to sort out who qualifies before anyone files, using the qualifying-child rules or free qualified help, and to answer any IRS letter by its deadline with records rather than explanations.

How long does an EITC refund take?

There is no universal timeline to promise. By law, refunds on early-season returns claiming the EITC cannot go out before mid-February. Beyond that, your refund moves at the speed of the slowest step: a complete and accurate return, matching names and SSNs, any verification the IRS runs, and how you filed and chose to be paid. Where's My Refund shows your own return's status; a neighbor's timeline predicts nothing about yours.

Is it free to check whether I qualify and to claim the EITC?

Yes. The IRS EITC Assistant is free, and eligible filers can prepare and file free through IRS Free File, VITA and TCE, or MilTax — paid preparation is never required to receive this credit. Money Hope Now collects none of that information. If you are going to pay someone anyway, read what to check first.

Which free filing options does the IRS actually offer right now?

For the 2026 filing season the IRS points to Free File guided software and Free File Fillable Forms, plus VITA and TCE in person and MilTax for the eligible military community. If you used a different free IRS option in an earlier year, do not assume it is still running — check the IRS free-filing page before you plan around it, because the list changes between seasons.

Your next step

Choose the tax year your income belongs to, gather the documents from the checklist, run the IRS EITC Assistant, and file through IRS Free File, a VITA or TCE site, or MilTax if you are eligible. If you worked in an earlier year and never filed, check that year's status first — 2023, 2024, and 2025 are all still open. While your records are out, it is worth ten minutes to check other official assistance programs — the same paperwork answers most of those applications too. However this season has gone so far, filing an accurate return is the whole job. The IRS handles the rest.

About this guide. Money Hope Now is an independent educational publisher, and this guide is written by the Money Hope Now editorial team, which builds each guide from the administering agency's own published rules and records the date every figure was checked. It is not the IRS, a government agency, a tax preparer, or a filing service; it does not prepare, submit, or process tax returns, and it does not collect tax records or Social Security numbers. This guide is general information, not individualized tax advice — your credit is determined by the IRS from the return you file, and it has not been reviewed by a credentialed tax practitioner. The site is supported by advertising and, on its savings pages, by affiliate arrangements with commercial providers; benefits guides like this one carry no affiliate links, and no affiliate relationship exists on, or is required for, this page. When a figure here turns out to be wrong or out of date, we correct it and move the last-verified date below rather than editing quietly; corrections can be sent to hello@moneyhopenow.com. Federal figures are reviewed each October, when the IRS publishes the next year's inflation adjustments, and again before each filing season; state credit figures and the links to them are reviewed at least annually and after state budget sessions.

Sources and last verified date

Last verified: August 3, 2026

Next review: October 2026, when the IRS publishes the next year's inflation adjustments, and again before the 2027 filing season

• Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) — Internal Revenue Service — Official program hub; definition, refundability, and administering agency.
• Who qualifies for the EITC — Internal Revenue Service — Basic eligibility gates, filing-status and separated-spouse rules, SSN requirements, and no-child rules.
• Qualifying child rules — Internal Revenue Service — Age, relationship, residency, SSN, and joint-return tests for a qualifying child.
• Earned income and EITC tables — Internal Revenue Service — Tax year 2025 completed-phaseout limits, maximum credits, $11,950 investment-income cap, and earned-income inclusions and exclusions.
• Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-45, Revenue Procedure 2025-32 — Internal Revenue Service — Official tax year 2026 EITC amounts, including the $70,244 married-filing-jointly completed-phaseout figure and $12,200 investment-income cap.
• How to claim the EITC — Internal Revenue Service — Form 1040/1040-SR and Schedule EIC requirements and prior-year claim framework.
• Use the EITC Assistant — Internal Revenue Service — Official free screening and estimate tool.
• File your taxes for free — Internal Revenue Service — IRS Free File guided software (2025 AGI of $89,000 or less) and Free File Fillable Forms.
• Free tax return preparation for qualifying taxpayers — Internal Revenue Service — VITA and TCE eligibility and scope.
• IRS free tax return preparation programs — Internal Revenue Service — Current free preparation programs and the site locator.
• VITA and TCE site locator — Internal Revenue Service — Official tool for finding a free preparation site.
• MilTax military tax services — Military OneSource, U.S. Department of Defense — Free military filing software, eligibility, and seasonal availability.
• Individual tax filing — Internal Revenue Service — April 15, 2026 regular deadline and extension framework for 2025 returns.
• IRS Tax Tip 2026-48: Don't delay filing any longer — Internal Revenue Service — Confirmation that free filing options remain available to extension filers through the October 15 deadline.
• IR-2026-37: Time is running out to claim refunds for tax year 2022 — Internal Revenue Service — The three-year refund rule, the April 15, 2026 deadline for tax year 2022, and forfeiture to the U.S. Treasury.
• Get transcript — Internal Revenue Service — Wage and income transcripts for reconstructing prior-year records.
• When to expect your refund if you claimed the EITC or ACTC — Internal Revenue Service — Statutory mid-February refund hold and official status tools.
• Common errors for the EITC — Internal Revenue Service — The recurring claim errors and their consequences.
• Consequences of filing EITC returns incorrectly — Internal Revenue Service — Form 8862 requirement, repayment with interest, and the two-year and ten-year bans.
• 26 U.S.C. §6409, Refunds disregarded in the administration of Federal programs — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School — Statutory text excluding federal tax refunds from income, and from resources for 12 months, in federal and federally assisted program eligibility.
• Treasury Offset Program — Bureau of the Fiscal Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury — How past-due debts are collected from federal payments including tax refunds.
• Reduced refund — Internal Revenue Service — Offset notices and how to follow up with the agency that received the payment.
• One, Big, Beautiful Bill: no tax on tips and overtime — Internal Revenue Service — The tax year 2025 through 2028 deductions for qualified tips and qualified overtime and how they are claimed.
• Military and clergy rules for the EITC — Internal Revenue Service — Combat-pay election and clergy earned-income rules.
• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit — Internal Revenue Service — Detailed rules, including qualifying-child tie-breakers.
• Choosing a tax professional — Internal Revenue Service — Official guidance for selecting a paid preparer, including the signature and identification requirement.
• Taxpayer Advocate Service — Internal Revenue Service — Independent escalation route for unresolved IRS problems causing hardship.
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline — Free confidential 24-hour support at 1-800-799-7233 or by texting START to 88788.
• States and local governments with earned income tax credit — Internal Revenue Service — State and local credit percentages and refundability for the rows labeled as carried from this list; page last reviewed November 26, 2025.
• State government websites — Internal Revenue Service — Directory of state tax agencies for confirming state credit status.
• Income Tax Topics: Earned Income Tax Credit — Colorado Department of Revenue — Colorado's percentage by tax year and its ITIN and under-25 pathways.
• Illinois EITC — Illinois Department of Revenue — Illinois rate, refundability, ITIN and age-expanded eligibility, and the linked Illinois child tax credit.
• CalEITC eligibility and credit information — California Franchise Tax Board — California's own credit schedule, the $32,900 earned-income ceiling, age rule, and ITIN eligibility.
• 30 Del. C. § 1117, Earned income tax credit (House Bill 16, 83 Del. Laws ch. 118) — Delaware General Assembly — The statutory choice between a 20 percent non-refundable and a 4.5 percent refundable Delaware credit.
• DC EITC — Office of Tax and Revenue, District of Columbia — The 100 percent match for tax year 2025 and refundability.
• Earned Income Tax Credit — Comptroller of Maryland — Maryland's refundable and non-refundable tracks, local credits, and ITIN and young-adult eligibility.
• Working Family Credit — Minnesota Department of Revenue — Minnesota's own credit formula, eligibility, and ITIN eligibility.
• Promotional materials for the Working Family Credit — Minnesota Department of Revenue — The tax year 2025 rate of 4 percent of earned income and the $379 maximum.
• Missouri Working Family Tax Credit — Missouri Department of Revenue — Form MO-WFTC, non-refundability, and no carryforward.
• Form MO-WFTC (2025) — Missouri Department of Revenue — The 20 percent rate for tax year 2025 and Missouri's $4,400 investment-income limit.
• Earned income credit — New York State Department of Taxation and Finance — The 30 percent state credit and its reduction by the household credit.
• New York City credits — New York State Department of Taxation and Finance — Where the New York City earned income credit is claimed.
• Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit — Pennsylvania Department of Revenue — Pennsylvania credit rate, $805 maximum, automatic calculation, refundability, and first application to tax year 2025 returns.
• Earned income tax credit — Utah State Tax Commission — Utah credit rate, the Utah W-2 wage limitation, and no carryforward or carryback.
• Virginia EITC and Credit for Low Income Individuals — Virginia Department of Taxation — The alternative Virginia credits and the rule against claiming more than one.
• New Virginia tax laws for July 1, 2025 — Virginia Department of Taxation — The increase in the refundable Virginia EITC from 15 percent to 20 percent beginning with 2025 returns.
• Working Families Tax Credit eligibility — Washington State Department of Revenue — Washington refund amounts for tax year 2025, the separate application requirement, and ITIN eligibility.
• Working Families Tax Credit application window opens Feb. 1 — Washington State Department of Revenue — The tax year 2025 application period through December 31, 2029 and the prior-year windows including the final year for tax year 2022.