The earned income tax credit (eitc) is a federal income tax credit for low and moderate income American families. General qualifications include having a valid social security number (this includes the qualifying child), earning income from employment (including self-employment), a United States citizen or resident alien all year or a nonresident alien who is married to a U.S. citizen.
Estimate your earned income tax credit
The EIC tax table can be found in the instructions for the 1040 tax form. The person who files for the eic cannot be the qualifying child of another person, cannot use the married filing separate status, and cannot file a form related to foreign earned income.
Additional requirements include earned, investment and adjusted gross income meeting qualifying limits. If you would like to estimate your eic amount you can use the earned income credit calculator to get an idea of how much money you can expect to receive.
EITC 2012 tax year
For 2012, credits range from $475 with no qualifying children to $5891 with three or more qualifying children. In order to qualify specifically for 2012, investment income must not exceed $3,200. The credits are as follows:
- $45,060 ($50,270 married filing jointly) with three or more qualifying children
- $41,952 ($47,162 married filing jointly) with two qualifying children
- $36,920 ($42,130 married filing jointly) with one qualifying child
- $13,980 ($19,190 married filing jointly) with no qualifying children
Qualifying child
The qualifying child must be related to the person filing by birth, marriage, adoption, or as a foster child. Furthermore, the child must be under 18 at the end of the year or a full-time student 23 or younger. If the filer is caring for a person who is considered permanently and totally disabled, the person can be claimed regardless of age.
In order to avoid two people claiming the same child for the Earned Income Tax Credit, the child must live with the person claiming them for a minimum of six months and a day.
It is also important to note the taxpayer claiming a qualifying child (and their spouse if applicable) must be between the ages of 25 and 64 years old.
State tables may vary
Some states offer their own variation of an earned income credit. Qualifications and calculations are usually similar to the federal version. However, it is important to check with the individual state.
The EIC Tax Table may vary each year and qualifications are subject to change. Currently, IRS publication 596 is used to give detailed information regarding qualifications. Schedule EIC is the actual form to fill out for filing for the federal earned income tax credit.
Filing your taxes online has never been easier than it is today by using tax software. If you would like the guarantee of claiming the entire earned income tax credit, you can use tax filing software such as, TurboTax to claim your full tax credit today!
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