How Much EIC Will I Get?
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How much EIC will I get?
If you are eligible for the federal EIC, the amount of tax credit you will get depends on your earned income, your filing status, and whether you have responsibility for the care of any children. Families with children get a much larger EIC amount than single adults without children.
EIC Estimators
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The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has an online Earned Income Tax Credit Estimator for tax year 2009. You can use this estimator to calculate your estimated Earned Income Credit based on your income level, filing status, and number of qualifying children.
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The Internal Revenue Service's Earned Income Tax Credit Assistant also includes a tool to estimate your credit amount:
(The estimators will open in a new browser window. To close the window when you are done, click on the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the window.)
To use the Earned Income Credit estimators, you must know:
- your filing status (single, married filing jointly, etc.)
- the number of qualifying children you have
- your earned income and other types of income (see Rule D2 for an explanation of total earned income)
How does the number of children affect EIC amounts?
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has developed a graph that shows how the amount of earned income and the number of qualifying children affect the Earned Income Credit benefit:
To view the graph, see:
- The Earned Income Tax Credit in 2009 (scroll down on the page)
(The graph web page will open in a new browser window. To close the window when you are done, click on the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the window.)
The graph shows that workers with one or more qualifying children receive much larger EIC amounts than workers with no qualifying children. The graph also shows that the EIC amount rises for workers who have very limited income. Then, after peaking for workers (with children) with earned income in the $12,000-$18,000 range, the EIC amount gradually decreases as earned income increases, until the credit phases out at the various income limits. For workers with no qualifying children, the EIC peaks at an income around $5,000 and phases out at about $12,000 in earned income.
How much New Mexico Working Families Tax Credit will I get?
If you live in New Mexico and you claim the federal Earned Income Credit, you can also claim the New Mexico Working Families Tax Credit. The Working Families Tax Credit for New Mexico residents equals 10% of the federal EIC amount. The New Mexico state tax credit is 10% over and above the EIC that you get from the federal government.
Example: If you live in New Mexico and you claim a $1000 Earned Income Credit on your federal tax return, you can claim an additional 10% of this amount, equal to $100 ($1,000 x .10 = $100), on your New Mexico state income tax return.
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