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How big a refund could your work earn you at tax time?

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Calculator

Estimate the refund your work income earns you, with or without children.

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Independent site, not a government agency. Every result is an estimate.

Your Tax Situation

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Children who lived with you for more than half the year and have a Social Security Number. More children raise the maximum credit.

$

Wages, salary, tips, self-employment. Not investment income, Social Security or unemployment.

$

Interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income. Over the limit and the credit is gone entirely, however little you earn.

Your Result

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2026 Maximum Credits

Children Max credit Zero at (single)
0 $664 $19,540
1 $4,427 $51,593
2 $7,316 $58,629
3 or more $8,231 $62,974

This is an educational estimate only, based on 2026 federal EITC rules, and is not tax advice. Your actual credit is calculated on your tax return using your exact AGI and IRS tables, which may differ slightly from the simplified formula used here. Many states also offer their own EITC on top of the federal credit — check your state's tax agency. For an official calculation, use the IRS EITC Assistant at irs.gov/eitc or consult a tax professional. The IRS EITC Assistant is at irs.gov.

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Latest articles and important updates to help you understand and make the most of your benefits.

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What Is the EITC?

The Earned Income Tax Credit is money the government pays people for working on a low income. It is refundable, which is the important word: most tax credits can only reduce a bill to zero, but this one keeps going, so a household that owes nothing still receives the full amount as a refund. For families near the bottom of the income scale it is often the single largest payment of the year.

Do I Qualify? (SSN and Other Requirements)

Four things will stop the claim outright, whatever your income:

  • A valid Social Security Number, for you and for a spouse you file with, issued by the return's due date. An ITIN does not work, and this is the requirement that catches most people out.
  • Filing status. Married Filing Separately is generally out, unless you lived apart from your spouse for the last six months of the year and meet the other conditions in IRS Publication 596.
  • Age, but only if you have no qualifying children: you must be 25 to 64 at the end of the year. With a child, age stops mattering.
  • Investment income over $12,200 for 2026. This is a cliff rather than a slope: one dollar over and the credit is gone entirely, however little you earned from working.

How the Credit Phases In and Out

The credit is shaped like a tent. On the way up it grows with every dollar you earn — 34 cents on the dollar with one child, 40 with two, 45 with three or more — which is the part that rewards taking the work. It then sits flat at the maximum for a stretch. Past a threshold it falls again, at about 16 cents on the dollar with one child and 21 with two or more, until it reaches zero.

Maximum credit − (phase-out rate × income over the threshold) = your credit

One consequence is worth knowing: the phase-out threshold is the same whether you have one child or four. Extra children raise the maximum and stretch the far slope, but they do not move the point where the credit starts shrinking. Filing jointly does move it, by about $7,270 in 2026, which is the whole of the marriage adjustment in this credit.

Important Disclaimer

This is an educational estimate only, based on 2026 federal EITC rules, and is not tax advice. Your actual credit is calculated on your tax return using your exact AGI and IRS tables, which may differ slightly from the simplified formula used here. Many states also offer their own EITC on top of the federal credit — check your state's tax agency. For an official calculation, use the IRS EITC Assistant at irs.gov/eitc or consult a tax professional. irs.gov

Is This Calculator Accurate?

It applies the statutory formula directly, with the 2026 figures, and the table it uses reproduces every published completed phase-out amount to the dollar — which is the check worth doing, since it means the thresholds and rates agree with the IRS's own arithmetic rather than merely looking plausible. What it does not do is use your AGI where that is higher than your earned income, handle the qualifying-child tests, know whether a child is claimed by someone else, or add your state's own EITC. The IRS also publishes the credit as a lookup table in whole-dollar income bands, so the official figure can differ from a formula by a dollar or two.