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EITC calculator: your earned income credit for 2026 and 2025
Enter your earnings, your filing status and your children: the credit is computed with the IRS amounts for each tax year, stage by stage.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
For tax year 2026, the earned income tax credit pays up to $664 to a worker without a qualifying child, $4,427 with one child, $7,316 with two and $8,231 with three or more. The credit grows with each dollar earned until the earned income amount ($18,290 with two children), stays flat, then shrinks once income passes $23,890 for a single parent or $31,160 for a married couple filing jointly. It disappears at $62,974 for a single filer with three children and $70,244 for a couple. A single parent of two earning $25,000 gets about $7,082. Investment income above $12,200 rules the credit out, and a worker with no child must be 25 to 64. The 2026 credit is claimed on the return filed in 2027; for the 2025 return, filed in 2026, the maximum is $8,046.
Estimated EITC for tax year 2026
$7,082
Refundable: paid even if you owe no tax · claimed on the 2026 return filed in 2027
| Stage | Phase-out: the credit shrinks as income rises |
| Maximum credit | $7,316 |
| Credit rate on earnings | 40.00% |
| Maximum reached at earnings of | $18,290 |
| Phase-out starts at | $23,890 |
| Phase-out rate | 21.06% |
| No credit from | $58,629 |
| Investment income limit | $12,200 |
Formula of the tax code with the IRS amounts of the year; the IRS EITC table works in $50 income bands, so the table can differ by a few dollars. How this is calculated.
The 2026 EITC table
The amounts below come from section 3.06 of IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, which adjusts the credit for inflation for tax years beginning in 2026. The two rates are written in the law itself, section 32(b) of the Internal Revenue Code, and do not change from year to year.
| Tax year 2026 | No child | 1 child | 2 children | 3 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit rate (phase-in) | 7.65% | 34% | 40% | 45% |
| Earned income amount (maximum reached) | $8,680 | $13,020 | $18,290 | $18,290 |
| Maximum credit | $664 | $4,427 | $7,316 | $8,231 |
| Phaseout rate | 7.65% | 15.98% | 21.06% | 21.06% |
| Phaseout begins: single, head of household, other | $10,860 | $23,890 | $23,890 | $23,890 |
| Credit ends: single, head of household, other | $19,540 | $51,593 | $58,629 | $62,974 |
| Phaseout begins: married filing jointly | $18,140 | $31,160 | $31,160 | $31,160 |
| Credit ends: married filing jointly | $26,820 | $58,863 | $65,899 | $70,244 |
The "earned income amount" is where the credit tops out, and the "threshold phaseout amount" is where it starts to decline. Married couples filing jointly see the phaseout begin $7,270 later than other filers, the increase written into section 32(b)(2)(B) and adjusted for inflation. The IRS turns these figures into look-up tables printed in the Form 1040 instructions. Those tables work in small income bands, so the amount on your return can differ by a few dollars from the exact formula the calculator uses.
How the credit is computed, with examples
The formula has three stages. In the phase-in, the credit equals a share of earnings: 7.65% with no child, 34% with one, 40% with two and 45% with three or more. On the plateau it equals the maximum. In the phaseout, the maximum is reduced by 15.98% (one child), 21.06% (two or more) or 7.65% (no child) of income above the threshold.
A single parent of three earning $10,000. Still in the phase-in: 45% of $10,000 gives $4,500. Every extra dollar of pay up to $18,290 adds 45 cents of credit.
A single parent of one earning $18,000. Past the earned income amount of $13,020 and below the threshold of $23,890: the full $4,427.
A single parent of two earning $25,000. The maximum of $7,316 is reduced by 21.06% of the $1,110 above $23,890, leaving about $7,082. The same household got $6,805 for 2025.
A married couple with one child earning $40,000 together. The joint threshold of $31,160 applies, and the $8,840 above it costs 15.98%, so the credit is about $3,014.
A 30-year-old with no child earning $12,000. The small credit for workers without children peaks at $664 and starts falling at $10,860; at $12,000 it is about $577.
The 2025 amounts, for the return filed in 2026
If you are still preparing or amending a 2025 return, use the figures the IRS published in its earned income and EITC tables. The investment income limit for 2025 was $11,950.
| Tax year 2025 | No child | 1 child | 2 children | 3 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum credit | $649 | $4,328 | $7,152 | $8,046 |
| Credit ends: single, head of household, other | $19,104 | $50,434 | $57,310 | $61,555 |
| Credit ends: married filing jointly | $26,214 | $57,554 | $64,430 | $68,675 |
| Change in the maximum for 2026 | +$15 | +$99 | +$164 | +$185 |
Who can claim it: children, age and the basic rules
Everyone who claims the credit must have earned income, investment income under the limit, a valid Social Security number issued by the due date of the return (including extensions), and U.S. citizenship or resident alien status for the whole year; filing Form 2555 for foreign earned income rules it out (IRS, who qualifies). A Social Security number issued only to receive a federally funded benefit, without work authorization, does not count.
A child counts only if the four tests of the IRS qualifying child rules are met. Age: under 19 at the end of the year and younger than you, or under 24 and a full-time student for at least 5 months, or any age if permanently and totally disabled. Relationship: son, daughter, stepchild, adopted or eligible foster child, brother, sister, half-sibling or step-sibling, grandchild, niece or nephew. Residency: living with you in the United States for more than half the year; a homeless shelter counts as a home. Joint return: the child cannot file a joint return to claim credits. The child also needs a valid Social Security number, and only one person can claim the same child; tie-breaker rules favor the parent the child lived with longer, then the parent with the higher AGI.
Without a qualifying child, the conditions are narrower: age 25 to 64 at the end of the year (one spouse is enough on a joint return), main home in the United States for more than half the year, and not being claimable as someone else's qualifying child or dependent. A parent who loses a child to the tie-breaker rules may still claim this smaller credit.
A refundable credit with a February hold
The credit first reduces the tax you owe, and whatever is left is paid to you as a refund, so a worker who owes little or no income tax can still receive it. The IRS reminds filers that by law it must wait until mid-February to issue refunds on returns claiming it. The 2026 credit described above will be claimed on the 2026 return, filed in 2027.
The credit sits outside the poverty guidelines entirely: HHS lists it among the programs that do not use them, which is why its brackets look nothing like the federal poverty level. It interacts with other benefits mainly through savings rules. For SSI, a refund is not income and the EITC part is not counted as a resource for 12 months. Families with children may also be owed the child tax credit, which Revenue Procedure 2025-32 sets at up to $2,200 per child for 2026, of which up to $1,700 can be refunded. To see how your earnings play against food and health programs at the same time, try the benefits screener.