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Earned Income Limits for the Credit: Earned Income Credit (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Earned Income Limits for the Credit” within earned income credit. 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 596 (2025), Earned Income Credit (EIC), 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

You must meet one more rule to claim the EIC.

You need to know the amount of your earned income to see if you meet the rule in this chapter. You also need to know that amount to figure your EIC.

Earned Income Limits for the Credit

Your earned income must be less than:

  • $61,555 ($68,675 for married filing jointly) if you have three or more qualifying children who have valid SSNs,

  • $57,310 ($64,430 for married filing jointly) if you have two qualifying children who have valid SSNs,

  • $50,434 ($57,554 for married filing jointly) if you have one qualifying child who has a valid SSN, or

  • $19,104 ($26,214 for married filing jointly) if you don’t have a qualifying child who has a valid SSN.

Earned Income

Earned income generally means wages, salaries, tips, other taxable employee pay, and net earnings from self-employment. Employee pay is earned income only if it is taxable. Nontaxable employee pay, such as certain dependent care benefits and adoption benefits, isn’t earned income. But there is an exception for nontaxable combat pay, which you can choose to include in earned income. Earned income is explained in detail in Rule 7 in chapter 1.

Figuring earned income.

If you are self-employed, a statutory employee, or a member of the clergy or a church employee who files Schedule SE (Form 1040), you will figure your earned income by using the worksheet in Step 5 of the Form 1040 instructions for line 27a and then filling out Part 4 of EIC Worksheet B in the Form 1040 instructions. Be sure to see Clergy or Church employees, whichever applies, before completing the worksheet in Step 5.

Clergy.

If you are a member of the clergy who files Schedule SE and the amount on line 2 of that schedule includes an amount that was also reported on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 1z, subtract that amount from the amount on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 1z, and enter the result on line 1 of the worksheet in Step 5 of the Form 1040 instructions for line 27a. Check the “Clergy filing Schedule SE” box on line 27b (Form 1040 or 1040-SR).

Church employees.

A church employee means an employee (other than a minister or member of a religious order) of a church or qualified church-controlled organization that is exempt from employer social security and Medicare taxes. If you received wages as a church employee and included any amount on both line 5a of Schedule SE and Form 1040, line 1a, subtract that amount from the amount on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 1a, and enter the result on line 1 of the worksheet in Step 5 of the Form 1040 instructions for line 27a.

Medicaid waiver payments.

When completing the worksheet in Step 5 of the Form 1040 instructions, line 27a, enter the Medicaid waiver payments you excluded from income on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8s, unless you choose to include these amounts in earned income, in which case enter -0-. For more information about these payments, see Pub. 525.

.Your nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments may have been reported to you on Form(s) W-2, box 12, with Code II..

.If you and your spouse both received Medicaid waiver payments during the year, you and your spouse can make different choices about including the full amount of your payments in earned income. Enter only the amount of Medicaid waiver payments that you or your spouse, if filing a joint return, do not want to include in earned income. To include all nontaxable Medicaid waiver payment amounts in earned income, enter -0-..

Nontaxable combat pay.

You can elect to include your nontaxable combat pay in earned income for the EIC. If you make the election, you must include in earned income all nontaxable combat pay you received.

If you are filing a joint return and both you and your spouse received nontaxable combat pay, you can each make your own election. In other words, if one of you makes the election, the other one can also make it but doesn’t have to.

The amount of your nontaxable combat pay should be shown on your Form W-2 in box 12 with code Q.

Electing to include nontaxable combat pay in earned income may increase or decrease your EIC. Figure the credit with and without your nontaxable combat pay before making the election. Whether the election increases or decreases your EIC depends on your total earned income, filing status, and number of qualifying children. If your earned income without your combat pay is less than the amount shown below for your number of children, you may benefit from electing to include your nontaxable combat pay in earned income and you should figure the credit both ways. If your earned income without your combat pay is equal to or more than these amounts, you will not benefit from including your combat pay in your earned income.

  • $8,490 if you have no children who have valid SSNs.

  • $12,730 if you have one child who has a valid SSN.

  • $17,880 if you have two or more children who have valid SSNs.

.If you elect to use your nontaxable combat pay in figuring your EIC, enter that amount on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 1i..

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

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.

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