Earned Income Tax Credit for 2026 or 2025 by children and filing status, with your band
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 29 Sept 2026.The Earned Income Tax Credit for 2026 reaches $8,231 with three or more children, $7,316 with two, $4,427 with one and $664 with none. It grows with earnings, holds at the maximum, then shrinks as income rises. Investment income over $12,200 rules it out. Enter your income and household to see your credit and band.
Rates and rules read from the sources listed on this page (the earliest on 29 Sept 2026); they may have changed since.
Pick the Tax year, 2026 or 2025, and your Filing status.
Choose the number of Qualifying children, from 0 to 3 or more.
Enter your Earned income, Adjusted gross income (AGI) and Investment income.
With no qualifying child, turn on "Aged 25 to 64 at year end" if that is true for you.
Read the estimated credit and your band; the limits are the IRS figures listed under Sources.
The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable federal credit for people who work and earn a low or moderate income. This calculator uses the amounts the IRS published for 2026 in Rev. Proc. 2025-32, and for 2025 in Rev. Proc. 2024-40, with the credit and phase-out percentages written in the tax code.
Three bands. Every household size has the same shape. In the phase-in band the credit grows with each dollar earned: 7.65% with no children, 34% with one, 40% with two and 45% with three or more. On the plateau the credit stays at its maximum. In the phase-out band it falls by 7.65%, 15.98% or 21.06% of every dollar of income above the threshold until it reaches zero. The calculator tells you which band you are in and shows the whole table for your year.
Which income counts. The phase-in uses earned income: wages, tips and net self-employment earnings. The phase-out uses the greater of your AGI and your earned income, so interest, a pension or capital gains can shrink the credit even though they do not grow it.
Filing status. Married couples filing jointly have higher phase-out thresholds. Single, head of household and qualifying surviving spouse filers share one column, and a married person filing separately can claim only under the separated-spouse rules.
The limits. Investment income above $12,200 for 2026 ($11,950 for 2025) removes the credit entirely. Without a qualifying child you must be at least 25 and under 65. Each person on the return needs a valid Social Security number.
What it does not do. The IRS EIC Table works in $50 bands, so the figure on your return can differ by a few dollars. The calculator does not test whether a child qualifies or cover state earned income credits. An estimate, not tax advice.
Rev. Proc. 2025-32 sets the 2026 maximums at $664 with no qualifying children, $4,427 with one, $7,316 with two and $8,231 with three or more. For 2025 they were $649, $4,328, $7,152 and $8,046. The maximum is paid only on the plateau, between the earned income amount and the start of the phase-out.
No credit is left once income reaches $19,540 with no children, $51,593 with one, $58,629 with two or $62,974 with three or more. Married couples filing jointly have higher limits: $26,820, $58,863, $65,899 and $70,244. Income here means the greater of AGI and earned income.
Yes, as a hard cutoff. If interest, dividends, capital gains, rents and similar investment income add up to more than $12,200 for 2026, or $11,950 for 2025, the credit is zero no matter how low your earnings are. Investment income under the limit still counts toward AGI in the phase-out.
Yes, if you are at least 25 and under 65 at the end of the year, cannot be claimed as someone else's dependent, and lived in the United States for more than half the year. The credit is small: at most $664 for 2026, and it ends at $19,540 of income, or $26,820 on a joint return.
Either your earnings are still in the phase-in band, where the credit grows with each dollar earned, or your income is past the threshold, where each extra dollar takes 7.65 to 21.06 cents off. The calculator names the band you are in and shows the earnings that would reach the maximum.
Only under the separated-spouse rules: you lived apart from your spouse for the last six months of the year, or were legally separated and did not live together at year end, and a qualifying child lived with you for more than half the year. Otherwise married couples must file jointly to claim it.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
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