EITC Calculator

An EITC calculator turns three facts into a dollar amount: how much you earned from work, how many qualifying children you have, and whether you file jointly. The credit climbs with your first dollars of pay, levels off at a maximum, and then shrinks as income keeps rising. Because it is refundable, you receive the full amount even if you owe no income tax at all.

The final figure follows the EIC table in the Form 1040 instructions rather than a smoothed formula, so it is the number your tax software should produce. Parents of children under 17 can pair it with the Child Tax Credit Calculator; for the whole return, use the Income Tax Calculator.

EITC amounts and income limits for 2025 and 2026

Every figure below is copied from section 2.06 of Rev. Proc. 2024-40 (tax year 2025) and section 4.06 of Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (tax year 2026). The "maximum reached at" row is the earned income amount, "phase-out starts" is the threshold phaseout amount, and "no credit at" is the completed phaseout amount.

The investment income limit is $11,950 for 2025 and $12,200 for 2026. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of July 2025 did not change the EITC: the IRS list of its provisions has no EITC item, and Publication 596 for 2025 lists no EITC law change beyond the yearly inflation adjustments.

The EITC formula

Section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code sets two percentages for each family size, and the yearly inflation adjustments supply the dollar break points:

The credit rates are 7.65% with no child, 34% with one, 40% with two and 45% with three or more. The phase-out rates are 7.65%, 15.98%, 21.06% and 21.06%. With two children, then, each $1,000 earned in the phase-in range adds $400, and each $1,000 above the threshold removes $210.60. Joint filers get the same rates with a threshold that is $7,270 higher in 2026 ($7,280 higher without a child).

Two worked examples

Example 1, tax year 2026. A head of household with two qualifying children earns $30,000 in wages and has no other income, so AGI is also $30,000. The phase-in part is 40% × $30,000 = $12,000, which is capped at the $7,316 maximum. Income is $6,110 above the $23,890 threshold, so the reduction is 21.06% × $6,110 = $1,286.77, and the exact formula gives $6,029.23. The EIC table places $30,000 in the band from $30,000 to $30,050 and prices it at the midpoint, $30,025: $7,316 − 21.06% × $6,135 = $6,023.97, which rounds to a credit of $6,024.

Example 2, tax year 2025. A married couple filing jointly with one child earns $36,500 in wages and has $1,700 of interest and dividends, so AGI is $38,200. Worksheet A looks up earned income first: the $36,500 band gives $3,360. Because AGI is different and above the $30,470 joint threshold, it also looks up $38,200, which gives $3,089, and the smaller amount wins. The credit is $3,089, so the $1,700 of investment income cost the couple $271 of EITC even though it was far below the $11,950 investment limit.

How the EIC table's $50 bands change the answer

The IRS does not ask you to run the formula. It prints a table in which every row covers $50 of income, and each row's credit is computed at the middle of the band and rounded to the nearest whole dollar. The first row runs from $1 to $50 and is priced at $25: with one child that is 34% × $25 = $8.50, listed as $9. Here are five bands from Example 1:

Two details matter at the corners of the curve. A band that straddles the point where the maximum is reached, or the point where the phase-out begins, gets the full maximum: the 2025 table lists $4,328 for joint filers with one child in the $30,450 to $30,500 band even though its midpoint is $5 into the phase-out. And the last band is shortened to end exactly at the income limit, then priced at its own midpoint. This calculator applies both rules and matches all 1,374 income rows of the 2025 table in all eight columns.

EITC by income and number of children (2026)

Table credits for tax year 2026 when AGI equals earned income. Single, head of household and qualifying surviving spouse filers share the first table; the second is for married couples filing jointly.

With children, both tables match up to $23,890, where the single phase-out begins; without children they split above $10,860. A joint return with three children still earns $46 at $70,000, while the same income gets nothing on a single return.

How to use this calculator

1. Pick the tax year: 2025 for the return filed in 2026, 2026 for the one filed in 2027.
2. Choose your filing status. Married filing separately asks you to confirm the separated-spouse rule.
3. Count qualifying children with Social Security numbers valid for work; with none, confirm the age test.
4. Enter earned income, and untick the AGI box if interest, a capital gain or an IRA deduction makes your AGI different.
5. Enter investment income, then read the result, the curve, the step-by-step math and the income table.

Who qualifies, and who this calculator is for

To claim the credit you need earned income, investment income under the limit, a Social Security number valid for employment for you (and your spouse on a joint return) issued by the return's due date, and U.S. citizenship or resident status for the whole year unless you file jointly with a citizen or resident. A qualifying child must pass the relationship, age, residency and joint return tests in Publication 596 and also needs a valid SSN. Without a qualifying child you must be 25 to 64 at year end, live in the United States for more than half the year and not be anyone's dependent.

It is built for workers who would collect the credit only by filing, parents checking a refund, people weighing a raise, and preparers who want the table math behind a number.

Key terms

• Earned income amount: the income at which the maximum credit is first reached.
• Threshold phaseout amount: the AGI or earned income above which the credit starts to shrink.
• Completed phaseout amount: the income at which no credit remains, the practical income limit.
• Qualifying child: a child who meets the relationship, age, residency and joint return tests. A custodial parent can claim the EITC for the child even after releasing the dependency claim to the other parent.
• Refundable credit: a credit paid to you in full even if it exceeds the tax you owe.

Scenarios: marriage, a raise, a side business

Getting married. In 2026 a head of household earning $24,000 with two children gets $7,288, and a childless worker earning $18,000 gets $116, for $7,404 together. Married and filing jointly on $42,000, the couple's credit is $5,028, so the marriage costs $2,376 of EITC. The higher joint threshold softens this penalty but cannot remove it.

A raise in the phase-out range. For the parent in Example 1, a raise from $30,000 to $35,000 lowers the credit from $6,024 to $4,971. About 21 cents of each extra dollar disappears before payroll and income tax, yet the paycheck still grows far more than the credit shrinks.

A side business. For the self-employed, earned income is net profit minus the deductible half of self-employment tax. A parent with one child and $28,000 of net profit pays $3,956.27 of self-employment tax, so earned income is $26,021.86 and the 2026 credit is $4,086. Entering the $28,000 profit instead would show $3,766. Run the Self-Employment Tax Calculator first.

The EITC, the Child Tax Credit and your refund

The two credits are claimed side by side and neither reduces the other, but they follow different tests: the Child Tax Credit needs a child under 17 and, since 2025, a valid SSN for at least one parent on the return, while the EITC counts children under 19, under 24 if full-time students, or any age if permanently and totally disabled, and stops growing after the third child. Any return claiming the EITC is refunded no earlier than mid-February. To see the combined refund, add both credits in the Tax Refund Calculator.

What changes the result, and tips

• AGI above earned income. Interest, dividends, gains or unemployment raise AGI and can lower the credit in the phase-out range. Pre-tax 401(k) contributions lower wages and AGI alike.
• The investment income limit. It is a cliff, not a phase-out. At $12,201 of investment income in 2026 the credit drops to $0.
• Filing status. With children, joint filers get a threshold $7,270 higher in 2026, which is worth up to $1,531 with two or more children.
• File even if you do not have to. The credit is only paid if you file a return.
• Keep proof of residency for each qualifying child, such as school or medical records showing your address.
• Check your state. The IRS lists more than two dozen states plus the District of Columbia and New York City with their own EITC, most set as a percentage of the federal credit.

Limitations of this estimate

The calculator trusts your eligibility answers: it cannot test whether a child qualifies, whether two people can claim the same child, or whether an SSN meets the rules. The official 2026 table appears only in the 2026 Form 1040 instructions, so the 2026 figures are generated with the method that reproduces the published 2025 table. Self-employment earnings must be entered already adjusted. State credits and the 2-year or 10-year bans after a reckless or fraudulent claim are outside its scope.

Related calculators

• For the per-child credit claimed alongside the EITC, use the Child Tax Credit Calculator.
• To work out the AGI that Worksheet A compares with earned income, use the AGI Calculator.
• For your full federal tax bill before credits, use the Income Tax Calculator.
• If you buy health coverage on the Marketplace, estimate your premium help with the ACA Subsidy Calculator.
• To see how a raise changes take-home pay, use the Paycheck Calculator.

Sources

• Internal Revenue Service: Rev. Proc. 2024-40, section 2.06 (2025 EITC amounts and $11,950 investment income limit).
• Internal Revenue Service: Rev. Proc. 2025-32, sections 4.05 and 4.06 (2026 EITC amounts, $12,200 limit, Child Tax Credit $2,200 and $1,700).
• Internal Revenue Service: Instructions for Form 1040 (2025), EIC Worksheets A and B, the 2025 EIC Table and the mid-February refund rule.
• Internal Revenue Service: Publication 596 (2025), Earned Income Credit (eligibility rules, separated spouses, age test, earned income).
• U.S. Code via GovInfo: 26 U.S.C. 32, Earned income (credit and phase-out percentages).
• Internal Revenue Service: States and local governments with earned income tax credit.