General Eligibility Requirements

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The Earned Income Credit (EIC) program has eligibility rules that apply to all workers as well as specific rules that apply for those who care for a child versus those who do not care for a child. Workers who care for at least one "qualifying child" (further explained below) are eligible to receive substantially more EIC than workers who do not care for any children. Immigrants who are legally authorized to work may claim the EIC. Unlike certain other programs, they are not restricted from claiming the EIC.

Immigrants who are legally authorized to work in the United States may claim the EIC.  They must have either a Social Security card or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) when filing a tax return in order to claim the EIC.

To learn more about eligibility requirements first read "Rules that Apply to Everyone." Then, depending on whether you care for children or not, read "Rules that Apply to Workers who care for one or more Children" or "Rules that Apply to Workers who do not care for a Child."

Rules that apply to all workers (i.e., rules for everyone)

Rules that apply to workers who care for one or more children

Rules that apply to workers who do not care for a child

NOTE: Glossary words are highlighted. Click on any glossary word to see its definition.

Rules that apply to all workers (i.e., rules for everyone)

Rule A1: You must work (have worked) and have earned income.

• To qualify for the EIC you must currently work (or held a job in the year for which you are filing your tax return).

• Earned income includes wages, salaries, and tips as well as earnings from self-employment (e.g., if you own your own business or you are a minister or member of a religious order). These forms of income are taxable.

  Note: Other forms of earned income that are nontaxable (such as housing allowances for military personnel or clergy) also count as earned income and must be included when determining your total earned income.

• Income that is not counted as earned income includes cash assistance from TANF, SSI and Social Security benefits, child support or alimony, workers compensation, unemployment insurance, and foster care payments. Also, interest and dividends are not considered earned income.

Rule A2: Your tax filing status cannot be "Married Filing Separately."

• If you are married, in most cases you must file a joint return with your spouse in order to be eligible for the EIC.

  Note: If you are married and your spouse did not live with you during the last 6 months of the year in which you are filing your taxes, you may be able to file as "Head of Household" and thereby still be eligible for the EIC.

Rule A3: You must have a valid Social Security number (SSN).

• To be eligible for the EIC you must have a valid SSN issued by the Social Security Administration (a federal government agency). If you file a joint tax return with your spouse, your spouse must also have a valid SSN.

  Note: If you have lost, or need to change the name on, or replace your Social Security card you can apply for a replacement card with the Social Security Administration using Form SS-5. For more information, go to the Social Security Administration web site "How to Apply for a Social Security Card."

Rule A4: You must be a U.S. Citizen or Resident Alien.

• To be eligible for the EIC you must be a U.S. Citizen or a resident alien in the year for which you apply.

  Note: If you were a nonresident alien for any part of the year you can only be eligible for the EIC if: 1) you are married to a U.S. citizen or a resident alien; and 2) you file a joint return and report all the income you receive worldwide.  Immigrants who are legally authorized to work in the United States may claim the EIC, although they must have a Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

Rule A5: You must have lived in the United States more than 6 months (i.e., half) of the year.

Note: Living on a military base stationed outside of the United States counts as living in the U.S. for purposes of the EIC. Also, it does not matter what type of dwelling you live in. A person who is living in a homeless shelter or who otherwise has no home meets the residency test provided he or she is living in one of the 50 states or District of Columbia.

Rule A6: You cannot be the qualifying child of another person.

If you happen to be a qualifying child of someone else (e.g., your parent, a guardian, foster parent, etc.) you cannot apply for the EIC. This other person may claim (apply for) the EIC, but you may not. To be the qualifying child of another person each of the following three conditions would need to be true:

• You are that person’s daughter, son, adopted child, stepchild, grandchild, or eligible foster child; and

• At the end of the last calendar year, you were under age 19 or under age 24 and a full-time student, or you were permanently and totally disabled during all of (or some of) the year; and

• You lived with that person in the United States for at least 6 months

Note: The rules of the EIC can lead to some surprising manners in which you might be disqualified. For instance, let us say you are 23 years old and live with your grandmother. You are attending college as a full-time student and have a part-time job for which you earned $4,900. You happen to be a qualifying child for your grandmother as you meet the relationship, age, and residency tests. She can claim the EIC if she meets the other requirements. Since you are your grandmother’s qualifying child, you cannot claim the EIC. This is the case even if your grandmother is not eligible for or chooses not to claim the EIC. Here is another example.  Let us say you are 21, you have a 2-year-old child, and you live with your father. You are attending a community college full-time and have a part-time job for which you earned $6,200. You happen to be a qualifying child for your father as you meet the relationship, age, and residency tests. He can claim the EIC if he meets the other requirements. Since you are your father’s qualifying child, you cannot claim the EIC. This is the case even if your father is not eligible for or chooses not to claim the EIC. The IRS Publication 596 gives related examples that lead to disqualification from receiving the EIC.

Rules that apply to workers who care for one or more children

This section describes the rules to determine whether or not you have a "qualifying" child. Workers who have one or more qualifying children compared to workers who do not care for a child can claim much higher EIC amounts. Also, the income cutoff limits for workers with qualifying child(ren) are higher than for workers who do not care for a child. Put another way, a worker who cares for a child can make more than a worker who does not and still qualify for the EIC. If you care for a child, there are several requirements (see Rules B1- B5 listed below) about this child that must be met for him or her to be your "qualifying child" for purposes of claiming the EIC. If you do not have a qualifying child, you may still be eligible for the EIC, but the credit you may claim will be lower.

Rule B1: Relationship test: Your child must either be your son, daughter, adopted child, grandchild, stepchild, or "eligible foster child."

• An adopted child includes a child placed with you for adoption by an authorized agency, even if the adoption is not final.

• "Grandchild" can also refer to a great-grand child, etc.

• Your child does not have to be your dependent to be a qualifying child.

• For purposes of the EIC, a youngster is your "eligible foster child" provided that all three of the following conditions are true:

  1. You care (cared) for the child as you would your own child; and

  2. The child lives (lived) with you more than half the year (except for temporary absences due to such things as illness, school attendance, etc.); and

  3. The child was placed with you by an authorized placement agency; or the child is your brother, sister, stepbrother, or stepsister; or the child is a biological child (or adopted child) of your brother, sister, stepbrother, or stepsister (making you the child’s aunt or uncle).

  Note: If you had a child who was born and died in the year in which you are applying for EIC, this child may still be your qualifying child for purposes of the EIC.

Rule B2: Age test of your qualifying child. One of the three following conditions must be true…

Your child must be:

1. Under age 19 at the end of the year in which you are filing your tax return; or

2. A full-time student under age 24 at the end of the year in which you are filing your tax return; or

   Note: To qualify as a student your child must be a full-time student at a school during some part of each of any 5 months (the months do not need to be consecutive) during the January – December calendar year in which you are filing your tax return. A school can be an elementary school, junior of senior high school, college or university, trade, technical, or vocational school. Enrollment only in night school, correspondence school, or on-the-job training courses would not qualify for being a full-time student.

3. Any age and permanently and totally disabled.

   Note: To qualify as permanently or totally disabled your child must be unable to engage in any form of work or gainful activity because of a physical or mental condition. Also, a doctor must determine that the condition has lasted (or can be expected to last) for at least one year - or can lead to death.

Rule B3: Residency test: Your child must have lived with you in the United States for more than half of the year in which you are filing your tax return.

Note: Living on a military base stationed outside of the United States counts as living in the U.S. for purposes of the EIC. Also, it does not matter what type of dwelling you live in. A person who is living in a homeless shelter or who otherwise has no home meets the residency test provided he or she is living in one of the 50 states or District of Columbia.

Rule B4: Your qualifying child must have a valid Social Security number (SSN) and it must be present on your tax return.

Note: If you have lost, or need to change the name on, or replace your child’s Social Security card you can apply for a replacement card with the Social Security Administration using Form SS-5. For more information, go to the Social Security Administration web site "How to Apply for a Social Security Card."

If your child died in the year in which you are applying for the EIC and did not have a SSN, this rule does not apply.

The IRS does not ask for information about more than three children. Hence, if you have four of more qualifying children, you will only need to list information about three of them. While workers with three qualifying children receive more EIC than workers with just one or two, there are no additional EIC benefits for having four or more children as compared to having three children.

Rule B5: If a child meets the conditions of a qualifying child for more than one person, only one person may treat that child as a qualifying child.

• On occasion the same child can meet the rules for being a qualifying child for more than one person. If this is the case, only one person can treat that child as a qualifying child for purposes of claiming the EIC. You and the other person(s) can choose who will treat that child as a qualifying child.

• If you and the other person(s) cannot agree on who will consider that child to be their qualifying child, the child can be treated as a qualifying child only by:

  1. The parents, if they file a joint return;
  2. The parent, if only one of the persons is the child’s parent;
  3. If two of the persons are each the child’s parent, the parent with whom the child lived the longest during the year;
  4. The parent with the highest Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) if the child lived with each parent for the same period of time during the year; or
  5. The person with the highest AGI, if none of the persons is the child’s parent.

Example: Let us say that you and your 2-year-old daughter live with your mother all year round. You are 22 years old and your only income last year was $12,600 working as a cashier. Your mother helps you care for your daughter. Your mother earned $16,450 in her job. Your daughter is a qualifying child for both you and your mother as she meets the relationship, age, and residency tests for each of you. However, under the rules of the EIC program, only one of you can claim the EIC. If you and your mother cannot agree on who can treat your child as the their qualifying child, the IRS will allow only you to claim the EIC as you are the child’s parent (see #2 above).

Let us take the same situation above but say you are the child’s aunt (but raised the child as if she were your own), instead of her mother. If you and your mother (the child’s grandmother) cannot agree on who will treat the child as a qualifying child, the IRS will likely rule in favor of your mother (the child’s grandmother) as she has the higher AGI (see #5 above).

Rules that apply to workers who do not care for a child

You can be eligible for the EIC without having a qualifying child under your care. The amount of EIC you may claim is substantially lower than for workers with a qualifying child, but it may still be worthwhile to apply. Some specific rules and restrictions are in place for persons applying for the EIC under this category as described below.

Rule C1: You (or your spouse if you file a married joint return) must be at least 25 years of age but under age 65 in the year for which you file your tax return.

• Example: Let us say you are 23 and work and your spouse is 25 but does not work and you file a married joint return and you have no qualifying children - you would still qualify for the EIC under this rule.

Rule C2: You cannot be the dependent of another person.

• If someone else can or does claim you as a dependent on their tax return, you cannot qualify for the EIC.

• If you are married and file a joint return with your spouse and someone can or does claim your spouse as a dependent, you are not eligible for the EIC.

Note: If you are the dependent of another person in the eyes of the IRS you do not qualify for the EIC, regardless of whether the other person claims you as their dependent on their tax return.