Maximum amounts 2025
For tax year 2025 — the return you file in 2026 — the Earned Income Tax Credit has four maximum amounts, one for each family size, and two sets of income cutoffs, one for single and head-of-household filers and one for married couples filing jointly. Both your earned income and your adjusted gross income (AGI) must be below the cutoff for your group: if either one is above it, the credit is zero.
- 2025 maxima: $649 (0 children), $4,328 (1), $7,152 (2), $8,046 (3 or more).
- Both earned income AND adjusted gross income must be below your cutoff.
- Investment income above $11,950 for 2025 disqualifies you entirely, whatever your wages.
- Married couples filing jointly get higher cutoffs than single filers.
The 2025 table in full
| Qualifying children | Maximum credit | Income cutoff: single / head of household / surviving spouse | Income cutoff: married filing jointly |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | $649 | $19,104 | $26,214 |
| 1 | $4,328 | $50,434 | $57,554 |
| 2 | $7,152 | $57,310 | $64,430 |
| 3 or more | $8,046 | $61,555 | $68,675 |
Read the cutoffs as the point where the credit reaches zero. A single parent with one child and AGI of $50,434 is at the edge; one dollar more of AGI and the credit is gone. The how the credit is calculated guide explains the slope that leads to that edge.
One piece of arithmetic from the table, labelled as calculated rather than IRS-quoted: the married-joint cutoff sits $7,120 above the single cutoff for families with children, and $7,110 above it for workers with no children. The joint return gets a wider window, but not a larger maximum — the maximum credit is the same for single and joint filers with the same number of children.
The investment-income limit
There is a second, separate gate that has nothing to do with wages. If your investment income — interest, dividends, capital gains, royalties, rental income, and certain passive income — is more than $11,950 for tax year 2025, you cannot claim the EITC at all, even if your wages are far below the cutoff. This surprises workers who sold a small investment or received a dividend during the year: the investment income does not just reduce the credit, it removes eligibility entirely. Check this figure before you do anything else, because it is the easiest rule to trip over unknowingly.
What the IRS has announced for 2026
The IRS has already announced inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 in Revenue Procedure 2025-32. Reported figures include a maximum credit of $8,231 for three or more qualifying children, an investment-income limit of $12,200, and a married-joint cutoff of $70,244 for three or more children. These are announced figures from secondary reporting of the revenue procedure — treat them as a preview, and confirm the full 2026 table on the IRS EITC tables page when you file for 2026. This site's main tables remain the 2025 figures above.
Sources to check: IRS, Earned income and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) tables (irs.gov); IRS Publication 596, Earned Income Credit (2025); IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (tax year 2026 adjustments).