Earned Income Tax Credit for 2026
A refundable credit with a published table
The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable credit for workers with earned income below official phase-out amounts. Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 4.06, publishes the 2026 earned income amounts, maximum credits and phase-out ranges, and it sets the disqualified-investment-income limit at $12,200. IRS pages on who qualifies for the credit remain the place to check residency, Social Security number, filing-status and qualifying-child tests. This guide explains the dollar table and the shape of the credit, not whether any particular person meets those tests.
For 2026 the maximum credit is $8,231 with three or more qualifying children, $7,316 with two, $4,427 with one, and $664 with no qualifying child. The earned income amount — the income at which the maximum is first reached — is $18,290 for two or more children, $13,020 for one child and $8,680 for none. On a joint return the phase-out starts at $31,160 of the greater of AGI or earned income when there is at least one child, and at $18,140 with no child. For other filing statuses those starts are $23,890 and $10,860. The credit is completely phased out at the completed amounts in the same table, for example $51,593 for a non-joint return with one child and $70,244 for a joint return with three or more children.
Phase-in, plateau and phase-out
The credit rises with earned income at a statutory rate: 7.65% with no child, 34% with one, 40% with two and 45% with three or more. Those percentages times the earned income amounts produce the official maxima (34% of $13,020 is $4,426.80, which the procedure lists as a $4,427 maximum). Once earned income reaches the earned income amount, the credit stays at the maximum until the phase-out threshold. After that it declines to zero at the completed phase-out. The phase-out uses the greater of earned income or AGI, which matters if you have income that raises AGI without being earned income.
A single parent with one qualifying child and $20,000 of wages is on the plateau: the estimate is the full $4,427. At $10,000 of wages the same parent is still in the phase-in, and 34% of $10,000 is $3,400. At $15,000 of earned income and AGI with no children, the credit is the $664 maximum minus the phase-out slope from $10,860, a figure our EITC calculator will compute from the official endpoints. Because the IRS later publishes a whole-dollar table in the Form 1040 instructions, a filed return can differ from a continuous formula by a dollar or two; use the official table when it is out.
Investment income, filing status and earned income
If disqualified investment income exceeds $12,200 for 2026, section 32(i) as adjusted does not allow the credit. The instructions list the categories that count, which commonly include taxable interest, dividends and capital-gain net income. A modest brokerage sale can therefore wipe out an otherwise available credit, even when wages are in the qualifying range. The calculator asks for that total so you can test the ceiling; it does not classify each Form 1099 for you.
Married taxpayers filing separately are generally ineligible. A limited exception for some separated spouses is described in IRS rules; this site does not model it and shows $0 for that filing status. Earned income itself is generally wages and net self-employment earnings, not unemployment compensation, interest or pension income. People with only investment income and no earned income do not get a phase-in, because the credit is built on earned income. Self-employed workers should use net earnings and should also remember self-employment tax, which is a separate line on the return.
Refund timing and filing practicalities
The IRS refunds page states that, by law, refunds on tax returns that include the Earned Income Credit are held until mid-February to prevent fraud. That hold is about payment date, not about whether the credit was computed correctly. If you also claim the additional Child Tax Credit, the same page notes that the credit can require more review time. Checking the refund tracker before those windows, or before the general e-file processing time, will often show a “still processing” status that is not an error.
File with a complete, accurate return. EITC is a frequent source of IRS follow-up when names, Social Security numbers or a child’s residence do not match records. Start with the IRS “who qualifies” page, keep documents that show residency and earned income, and use IRS Free File or software that supports the credit. Combine the credit with withholding in the refund calculator if you want a single sketch of a refund or balance due. This is educational arithmetic, not a determination of eligibility.
How EITC interacts with other pieces of the return
Because the credit is refundable, it can be the entire refund for a worker whose income tax is already zero after the standard deduction and any Child Tax Credit. It can also sit alongside the additional Child Tax Credit on the same return. The two credits have different income ranges, different child-age rules and different documentation, so qualifying for one does not automatically qualify you for the other. A parent with one child and $20,000 of wages may see both a full $4,427 EITC and an additional Child Tax Credit, subject to each credit’s own tests; a parent at $45,000 may still have a partial EITC while being well inside the Child Tax Credit’s non-phase-out range.
AGI matters in both directions. Above-the-line adjustments that lower AGI can keep you on the EITC plateau or soften the phase-out, while extra unearned income that raises AGI can cut the credit even when earned income is unchanged. That is why the official table tells you to use the greater of AGI or earned income for the phase-out. If you are self-employed, errors in expenses change both earned income and AGI, and they also change self-employment tax. Use records, not guesses, and confirm the result in software or Free File when the 2026 filing season opens.
Our tools apply the 2026 revenue-procedure table and the $12,200 investment-income ceiling. They do not apply the age test for childless claimants, the relationship and residency tests, or the rule that you generally must have lived in the United States for more than half the year. Those filters live on the IRS “who qualifies” page. If that page and a calculator ever disagree, the IRS page wins, and a qualified professional or the official instructions should be your next stop rather than a second unofficial worksheet.