Claiming the EIC if I Have a Qualifying Child: Military Taxes (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Claiming the EIC if I Have a Qualifying Child” within military taxes. The following material presents the IRS treatment of this topic, including the qualifications, exceptions, and examples in the source section. Read the rules alongside the facts of your own situation before deciding what to report, deduct, or document.

Adapted from Publication 3 (2025), Armed Forces' Tax Guide, published by the Internal Revenue Service. This guide retains the source edition’s years, amounts, deadlines, and examples. It is guidance for that edition, not a statement that the same figures apply to every tax year.

Context for these rules

The EIC is a credit for certain persons who work. The credit may give you a refund even if you don't owe any tax or didn't have any tax withheld.

You must satisfy certain criteria in order to claim the EIC. The criteria you must meet depends on whether you have a qualifying child. Detailed information is provided under Claiming the EIC if I Have a Qualifying Child and Claiming the EIC if I Don't Have a Qualifying Child, later.

Claiming the EIC if I Have a Qualifying Child

Caution:

If you are claiming the EIC with a qualifying child, you should follow the eligibility rules that apply to filers with a qualifying child or children when determining whether you are eligible to claim the EIC even if your qualifying child hasn't been issued a valid SSN on or before the due date of your return (including extensions). However, when calculating the amount of EIC that you are eligible to claim on your return, you should follow the rules that apply to taxpayers who do not have a qualifying child.

If you have a qualifying child (defined later), you must satisfy all nine of the following rules to claim the EIC.

1. You must have earned income (defined later).

2. Your earned income and AGI must each be less than:

   1. $61,555 ($68,675 for married filing jointly) if you have three or more qualifying children,

   2. $57,310 ($64,430 for married filing jointly) if you have two qualifying children, or

   3. $50,434 ($57,554 for married filing jointly) if you have one qualifying child.

3. If you are married, you must file a joint return to claim the EIC or satisfy certain requirements to be considered unmarried for EIC purposes.

4. You generally can't be a qualifying child of another person. If filing a joint return, your spouse also can't be a qualifying child of another person.

5. Your qualifying child can't be used by more than one person to claim the credit. If your qualifying child is the qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person who can treat the child as a qualifying child. See the Caution below. If the other person can claim the child as a qualifying child, you may be able to claim the EIC under the rules for a taxpayer without a qualifying child. For details, see Rule 9 in Pub. 596.

6. You can't file Form 2555 to exclude income earned in foreign countries, or to deduct or exclude a foreign housing amount. See Pub. 54 for more information about this form.

7. You must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year unless:

   1. You are married to a U.S. citizen or a resident alien,

   2. Your filing status is married filing jointly, and

   3. You choose to be treated as a resident alien for the entire year. If you need more information about making this choice, see Resident Aliens, later.

8. Certain investment income must be $11,950 or less during the year. For most people, this investment income is taxable interest and dividends, tax-exempt interest, and capital gain net income. See Worksheet 1 in Pub. 596 for more information on the investment income includible in the amount that must meet the $11,950 limit.

9. You must have a valid SSN for yourself, your spouse (if filing a joint return), and any qualifying child.

Caution:

If you and someone else have the same qualifying child but the other person can't claim the EIC because they aren’t eligible or their income or AGI is too high, you may be able to treat the child as a qualifying child. But you can't treat the child as a qualifying child to claim the EIC if the other person uses the child to claim any of the tax benefits listed below.

1. The CTC, ACTC, and ODC.

2. Head of household filing status.

3. The credit for child and dependent care expenses.

4. The exclusion for dependent care benefits.

How to report.

If you satisfy all these rules, fill out Schedule EIC (Form 1040), Earned Income Credit, and attach it to Form 1040 or 1040-SR. You will claim the EIC on Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR, line 27.

Qualifying child.

Your child is a qualifying child if your child passes four tests and has an SSN, as required under SSN of child, later. The four tests are:

1. Relationship,

2. Age,

3. Residency, and

4. Joint return.

Each test, and the SSN requirement, are discussed below.

Relationship test.

In order to be classified as a qualifying child, your child must pass the relationship test. Your child passes this test if the child is your:

• Son, daughter, stepchild, or foster child, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild); or

• Brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, or stepsister, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your niece or nephew).

An adopted child is always treated as your own child. The term “adopted child” includes a child who was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption.

Your foster child, for the relationship test, is a child placed with you by an authorized placement agency or by judgment, decree, or other order of any court of competent jurisdiction. An authorized placement agency includes a state or local government agency. It also includes a tax-exempt organization licensed by a state. In addition, it includes an Indian tribal government or an organization authorized by an Indian tribal government to place Indian children.

Age test.

In order to be classified as a qualifying child, your child must pass the age test. A child passes the age test if they are in at least one of the following categories.

1. Category 1. Under age 19 at the end of 2025 and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly).

2. Category 2. Under age 24 at the end of 2025, a student (defined below), and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly).

3. Category 3. Permanently and totally disabled (defined later) at any time during 2025, regardless of age.

Student defined.

To qualify as a student, your child must be, during some part of each of any 5 calendar months of 2025:

1. A full-time student at a school that has a regular teaching staff, course of study, and regular student body at the school; or

2. A student taking a full-time, on-farm training course given by a school described in (1), or a state, county, or local government.

The 5 calendar months need not be consecutive.

A school can be an elementary school, junior or senior high school, college, university, or technical, trade, or mechanical school. However, on-the-job training courses, correspondence schools, and schools offering courses only through the Internet don't count as schools for the EIC.

Students who work in co-op jobs in private industry as a part of a school's regular course of classroom and practical training are considered full-time students.

Permanently and totally disabled.

Your child is permanently and totally disabled if, at any time in 2025, both of the following apply.

1. Your child couldn't engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a physical or mental condition.

2. A doctor determined the condition has lasted or can be expected to last continuously for at least a year or can lead to death.

Residency test.

In order to be classified as a qualifying child, your child must pass the residency test. A child passes the residency test if they have lived with you in the United States for more than half of 2025.

The IRS may ask you for documents to show you lived with each qualifying child. Documents you might want to keep for this purpose include school and childcare records and other records that show your child's address.

Caution:

You can't take the credit for a child who didn't live with you for more than half the year even if you paid most of the child's living expenses. But see below for allowable absences.

The United States includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It doesn't include U.S. territories such as Guam or Puerto Rico.

U.S. Armed Forces personnel stationed outside the United States on extended active duty are considered to live in the United States during that duty period for purposes of the EIC. Extended active duty means you are called or ordered to active duty for an indefinite period or for a period of more than 90 days. Once you begin serving your extended active duty, you are still considered to have been on extended active duty even if you don't serve more than 90 days.

A child who was born or died in 2025 is treated as having lived with you for more than half of 2025 if your home was the child's home for more than half of the time they were alive in 2025.

Count time that you or your child is away from home on a temporary absence due to a special circumstance as time the child lived with you. Examples of a special circumstance include illness, school attendance, business, vacation, military service, and detention in a juvenile facility.

A child adopted in 2025 who was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption by you in 2025, or the child was an eligible foster child placed with you during 2025, is considered to have lived with you for more than half of 2025 if your main home was this child's main home for more than half the time they were adopted or placed with you in 2025.

A kidnapped child is treated as living with you for more than half of the year if the child lived with you for more than half the part of the year before the date of the kidnapping or following the date of the child's return. The child must be presumed by law enforcement authorities to have been kidnapped by someone who isn't a member of your family or your child's family. This treatment applies for all years until the child is returned. However, the last year this treatment can apply is the earlier of:

1. The year there is a determination that the child is dead, or

2. The year the child would have reached age 18.

If your qualifying child has been kidnapped and meets these requirements, enter “KC,” instead of a number, on line 6 of Schedule EIC.

Joint return test.

In order to be classified as a qualifying child, your child must satisfy the joint return test. There are two parts to this test.

First, the child can't file a joint return for the year (unless the joint return is filed only as a claim for refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid).

Second, even if your child doesn't file a joint return, if your child was married at the end of the year, they can't be your qualifying child unless:

1. You can claim the child as a dependent, or

2. The reason you can't claim the child as a dependent is that you let the child's other parent claim the child as a dependent under the special rule for divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart) described in Pub. 596 and the Instructions for Form 1040.

SSN of child.

In order to be classified as a qualifying child, your child must have a valid SSN unless the child was born and died in 2025. If a child didn't have an SSN on or before the due date of your return (including extensions), you can't count that child as a qualifying child in figuring the EIC on either your original or an amended 2025 return, even if that child later gets an SSN. You can't claim a higher EIC credit amount on the basis of a qualifying child if:

1. Your qualifying child's SSN is missing from your tax return or is incorrect;

2. Your qualifying child's social security card says “Not valid for employment” and was issued for use in getting a federally funded benefit; or

3. Instead of an SSN, your qualifying child has:

   1. An ITIN which is issued to a noncitizen who can't get an SSN; or

   2. An adoption taxpayer identification number (ATIN), which is issued to adopting parents who can't get an SSN for the child being adopted until the adoption is final.

If you have more than one qualifying child and only one has a valid SSN, you can claim a higher EIC credit amount only for that one child.

More information.

For more information on the EIC, see Pub. 596.

Using the guidance

Keep the documents that establish the dates, amounts, and circumstances described above. References to other chapters, forms, worksheets, or earlier and later sections refer to the linked IRS publication. Check the full publication and its updates before relying on a rule for a different tax year or a situation not addressed here.

Sources and further reading

• Publication 3 (2025), Armed Forces' Tax Guide: Credits — Earned Income Credit (EIC) — Claiming the EIC if I Have a Qualifying Child — Internal Revenue Service; 2025 edition.

The cited U.S. government text is in the public domain. Source accessed October 28, 2026. Fynoptic has organized this material for educational use and is independent of, and not endorsed by, the IRS.