Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) 2025: how much it is and who qualifies

How much is the EITC for 2025?

The maximum credit depends on how many qualifying children you have. The credit grows with your earned income until it reaches the maximum; this is the earned income at which you reach it:

• No qualifying children: up to $649, reached at $8,490 of earned income.
• One child: up to $4,328, reached at $12,730.
• Two children: up to $7,152, reached at $17,880.
• Three or more children: up to $8,046, reached at $17,880.

What are the 2025 EITC income limits?

According to the IRS, for 2025 your earned income and your adjusted gross income (AGI) must each be less than these amounts. The first figure is for single, head of household, qualifying surviving spouse or married filing separately; the second is for married filing jointly:

• No qualifying children: $19,104, or $26,214 jointly.
• One child: $50,434, or $57,554 jointly.
• Two children: $57,310, or $64,430 jointly.
• Three or more children: $61,555, or $68,675 jointly.
• Your investment income must also be $11,950 or less for the year. If it is more, you cannot get the credit, even if your other income is low.

When does the credit start to shrink?

Once it reaches the maximum, the credit stays level for a stretch and then starts to shrink once your earned income or your adjusted gross income, whichever is higher, goes past a set amount. That amount is not the cutoff for qualifying: it is the point where the credit begins to go down little by little, until it reaches zero at the limits in the section above.

With no qualifying children, it starts to shrink above $10,620, or $17,730 if you file jointly. With one or more children, above $23,350, or $30,470 if you file jointly.

Who qualifies for the EITC?

• You have earned income, such as wages, tips or profit from your own business.
• You, and your spouse if you file jointly, have a Social Security number valid for employment, issued by the due date of the return (including extensions). Someone who files with an ITIN cannot receive this credit.
• You were a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year, and you do not file Form 2555 (foreign earned income).
• Your investment income is no more than $11,950 for the year.
• You are not someone else's qualifying child.
• If you file as married filing separately, you generally do not qualify. According to the IRS, there is an exception if you lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of the year or are legally separated, and a qualifying child lived with you for more than half the year.
• If you have no qualifying children, also: you are at least 25 but under 65 at the end of the year (if you file jointly, only one spouse has to meet this age rule), you lived in the United States for more than half the year, and no one else can claim you as a qualifying child or dependent.

Who is a qualifying child for this credit?

According to the IRS, the child has to meet all of these tests:

• Relationship: your son, daughter, stepchild, adopted child or foster child, your brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister, or a descendant of any of them, such as a grandchild, niece or nephew.
• Age: at the end of 2025, under 19, or under 24 if a full-time student for at least 5 months of the year, and in both cases younger than you (or your spouse, if you file jointly). A child who is permanently and totally disabled can be any age.
• Residency: lived with you in the United States for more than half the year. Temporary absences, such as school, illness or vacation, count as time lived with you.
• Joint return: did not file a joint return with someone else, unless only to claim a refund of tax withheld.
• Has a Social Security number valid for employment, issued by the due date of the return.

How much could you get? Two examples

These examples are illustrative and assume the person meets every other requirement and has no other income.

A single mother with one qualifying child earned $15,000 in wages in 2025. That is more than the $12,730 needed for the maximum and less than the $23,350 where the credit starts to shrink, so her EITC is the full $4,328.

A 30-year-old worker with no children earned $9,000. That is more than $8,490 and less than $10,620, so the EITC is the full $649 for someone without children.

With income above the point where the credit starts to shrink, the credit is smaller, and it disappears at the IRS limits shown above.

How Vordana Tax handles it

With Vordana Tax you answer simple questions about your work, your family and your home. The program checks each requirement, decides which children count for this credit, figures the amount and prepares Schedule EIC with your Form 1040. If you do not qualify, it tells you why.

Questions

Sources

• IRS: Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
• IRS: Earned income and EITC tables
• IRS: Who qualifies for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
• IRS: Qualifying child rules

This guide is general information. Your situation may differ; the IRS's instructions are the final word.