Video: About The Earned Income Credit (EIC) for 2009 Taxes
EIC. Who gets it?
You can get back up to $5,657 on your return if you qualify for the Earned Income Credit, or EIC. That means more money in your pocket.
How much you get back depends on three things:
- How much money you make
- If you're married or single
- And how many qualified children you have
Let's go over a few examples of who qualifies: Randy is single, is 25 years old, has no kids and makes less than $13,440. Here are John and Betty, they are married, make less than $48,279 and have three kids, Melanie, Carrie, and George. Here is Susan, she's divorced and is claiming her daughter Denise for EIC because she lived with her most of the year, even though Denise's father gets to claim her as a dependant this year.
Even if you don't think you can get this credit we want you to go through this area in TurboTax anyway. Why? Because about 25% of the people that qualify don't take it and we don't want you to miss out. We'll ask you simple questions, we'll tell you if you qualify and if you do how much you'll get for this credit.
Here are a few things to remember:
- You can get this credit even if you don't claim any qualifying children; you just won't get as much money back
- Married couples that file separately don't qualify; they have to file a joint return
- Qualifying children don't have to be your own children or your dependants, they can be a brother, sister, niece, nephew, grandchild, stepchild, or foster child as long as they are related to you by blood or marriage, and meet the IRS requirements for a qualifying child
It is a lot of money for just a few minutes of your time.
