ELIGIBILITY CHECKLIST FOR

                                                                                          TAX YEAR 2023
                                             EITC

You may claim the EITC if you answer  YES  to all of the following questions:                                                                 YES    NO

  1.  Were you a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year, or a nonresident alien married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien 
      and filing a joint return?

  2.  Do you and your spouse (if filing a joint return) each have a Social Security Number (SSN) issued on or before the 
      due date of the return (including extensions)? If either spouse is using an ITIN or has an SSN that’s not valid for 
      employment and was issued to get a federally funded benefit, you must answer NO.

  3.  Answer YES if you were not married at the end of 2023, if your filing status is married filing jointly, or if you have a 
      qualifying child for the EITC and you are separated from your spouse in one of the ways listed in Pub. 596, Earned 
      Income Credit (EIC). Caution: If you are a nonresident alien or your spouse is a nonresident alien, see Publication 
      519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens, on how to answer this question.

  4.  Answer YES if you are not filing Form 2555. If you file Form 2555, you must answer NO.

  5.  Is your investment income $11,000 or less?

                                      ✛                                                                                                Q
  6.  Is your total earned income  at least $1 and both your total earned income and adjusted gross income (AGI)  less 
      than:
      •  $17,640 ($24,210 if married filing jointly) if you do not have a qualifying child who has a valid SSN
      •  $46,560 ($53,120 if married filing jointly) if you have one qualifying child who has a valid SSN
      •  $52,918 ($59,478 if married filing jointly) if you have two qualifying children who have valid SSNs
      •  $56,838 ($63,398 if married filing jointly) if you have three or more qualifying children who have valid SSNs

  7.  Answer YES, if you are not a qualifying child of another person who is required to file a return or who files a return 
      to claim a tax benefit. If you don’t know how to answer this question, go through questions 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. 
      Answer the questions for your relative and you as the child. If you answer YES to all of the questions, answer  
      NO here.

          If you have a child or children you want to claim for the EITC, answer questions 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Repeat for EACH 
STOP
          child. If you do NOT have a qualifying child, skip questions 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 and answer 13, 14, and 15.

  8.  Is the child your son, daughter, adopted child, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half-brother, half-
                                                                                                                                        Q
      sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild, niece or nephew) ?

  9.  Is the child younger than you (or your spouse if filing a joint return) and
      •  Under age 19 at the end of the tax year or
                                                                                     Q
      •  Under age 24 at the end of the tax year and a full-time student ?
                                                                                    Q
      Also, answer yes, if the child is permanently and totally disabled .

  10. Did the child have the same main home as you (or your spouse if filing jointly) in the United States for more than 
      half of the tax year?

  11. If the child is married and filed a joint tax return, answer NO. If the child and the child’s spouse filed the joint 
      return only to claim a refund of withheld or estimated taxes, answer YES. If the child did not file a joint return, 
      answer YES.

  12. Are you the only one who can claim this child or are you the one who can claim this child under the tiebreaker 
      rules that apply to a qualifying child of more than one person? See the tiebreaker rules on the back of this form for 
      help answering this question.

 If you answered YES to questions 1 through 12, you have a qualifying child or children for EITC. Remember to fill out Schedule EIC, Earned 
 Income Credit, and attach it to your Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR.

 If you answered NO to questions 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12, answer questions 13, 14 and 15 to see if you can claim EITC without a qualifying child. 
 Note: After completing this section, check your answer to question 6 to make sure it is still correct.

                                                                                                      Q
  13. Was your main home (and your spouse’s if filing a joint return) in the United States  for more than half the year?

  14. Were you (or your spouse if filing a joint return) at least age 25 but under age 65 at the end of 2023?

  15. Answer YES if you (and your spouse if filing a joint return) cannot be claimed as a dependent on anyone else’s 
      return. Answer NO if you (or your spouse if filing a joint return) can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s 
      return.

 If you answered YES to questions 1 through 7, and 13, 14 and 15, you can claim the EITC without a qualifying child. Note: After completing this 
 section, check your answer to question 6 to make sure it is still correct.

For complete instructions and definitions of words used, visit us at www.irs.gov/eitc, see Publication 596, or consult with your tax return preparer.
✛ Special rules apply for calculating earned income if you are a member of the U.S. Armed Forces in a combat zone Q or a member of the clergy.
Q See Helpful Definitions on the back.

QHelpful Definitions
Adjusted Gross Income                                                         Who Qualifies as a Student?
AGI or adjusted gross income is the total of all your taxable income          To qualify as a student, the child must meet one of the following during 
(such as wages, interest, pensions, and alimony received by you) minus        some part of any five calendar months of the calendar year (does not need 
some of your deductions (such as the IRA deduction, the health savings        to be consecutive months and doesn’t need to be the same school).
account deduction, and the deduction for alimony paid by you). Do not         •  Attend a school that has a regular teaching staff and course of 
subtract deductions for personal or dependency exemptions, the standard       study and normally has a regularly enrolled student body where its 
deduction, or itemized deductions.                                            educational activities take place or 
                                                                              •  Take a full-time course of institutional on-farm training under the 
Adopted Child
                                                                              supervision of an accredited agent of a school described above or a 
Always treat an adopted child as your own child. This term includes a child 
                                                                              state, county, or local government.
who is lawfully placed with you for legal adoption.
                                                                              Kidnapped Child
Birth or Death of a Child during the Tax Year
                                                                              The IRS treats a kidnapped child as having the same main home as you for 
The IRS treats a child who was born or died during the tax year as having 
                                                                              more than half of the tax year if the child had the same main home as you 
the same home as you for more than half of the tax year if your main home 
                                                                              for more than half of the part of the year before the date of the kidnapping. 
was the home of the child for more than half of the time the child was 
                                                                              Law enforcement authorities must presume the child was kidnapped by 
alive. A child’s stay in a hospital or other care facility may be a temporary 
                                                                              someone who is not a member of your family or the child’s family. Generally, 
absence.
                                                                              this treatment applies for all years until the child is returned; but, the last 
Combat Pay Election                                                           year this treatment applies is the earlier of:
You can elect to include your nontaxable combat pay in earned income for      •  The year a determination is made that the child is dead, or
the EITC. The amount of your nontaxable combat pay is shown on your           •  The year the child would have reached age 18.
Form W-2, in box 12, with code Q. Electing to include nontaxable combat 
                                                                              If your qualifying child was kidnapped and meets these requirements, enter 
pay in earned income may increase or decrease your EITC. 
                                                                              “KC,” instead of a number, on line 6 of Schedule EIC 
Earned Income
                                                                              Military personnel stationed outside the United States
Earned income includes all the taxable income you get from working or from 
                                                                              For the EITC, the IRS considers U.S. military personnel stationed outside the 
certain disability payments. Earned income includes both compensation for 
                                                                              United States on extended active duty to have a main home in the United 
working for someone else and net earnings from self-employment.
                                                                              States during that period of duty. Extended active duty means you are called 
Taxable earned income may include:                                            or ordered to duty for an indefinite period or for a period of more than 90 
•  Wages, salaries, tips, and other taxable employee pay;                     days. After you begin serving your extended active duty, you continue to be 
•  Union strike benefits;                                                     on extended active duty, even if you do not serve more than 90 days.
•  Long-term disability benefits received prior to minimum retirement age; 
•  Net earnings from self-employment may include:                             Permanently and Totally Disabled
 •  running or owning a business or a farm                                    To be considered permanently and totally disabled, both of the following 
 •  Income from working as a minister or member of a religious order          must be true:
 •  Income earned as a statutory employee                                     •  The person cannot take part in any substantial gainful activity because 
Income that is Not Earned Income:                                             of a physical or mental condition. Publication 524, Credit for the Elderly 
•  Pay received for work while an inmate in a penal institution               and Disabled, defines and gives examples of “substantial gainful 
•  Interest and dividends                                                     activity.”
•  Retirement income                                                          •  A physician determines the condition has lasted or is expected to last 
•  Social security                                                            continuously for at least a year or can be expected to result in death. 
•  Unemployment benefits                                                      You must have a statement from a doctor or a statement signed by an 
•  Alimony                                                                    authorized person in the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Social 
•  Child support                                                              Security Administration.

Eligible Foster Child                                                         Step Relationships
You may only claim a foster child who is placed with you by an authorized     A step relationship is formed by a marriage. A relationship formed by 
placement agency or by judgment, decree, or other order of any court of       a marriage, such as a stepdaughter, stepson, stepbrother, stepsister, 
competent jurisdiction. An authorized placement agency includes a state or    stepfather or stepmother, is not ended when the marriage that formed the 
local government and an Indian tribal government. It may also include an      relationship ends by death or divorce.
agency or organization licensed by a state or authorized by an Indian tribal 
government.                                                                   Temporary Absences
                                                                              Count time that you or your child is temporarily away from your home due to 
Full-time Student                                                             special circumstances as time the child lived with you. Examples of special 
A full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or   circumstances may include illness, school attendance, business, vacation, 
courses the school considers full-time attendance. If the student attends     military service, or detention in a juvenile facility. Temporary means if the 
more than one school, the main school must consider the student enrolled      child wasn’t away because of this absence for special circumstance, the 
full-time.                                                                    child would have lived in your main home with you.

 Tiebreaker rules
 Sometimes a child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more           Under the tiebreaker rules, the child is treated as a qualifying child 
 than one person. If so, generally, only one person may claim the child       only by:
 as a qualifying child for all of the following tax benefits if the person is •  The parents, if they file a joint return together and claim the child 
 otherwise eligible for the benefit(s):                                       as a qualifying child;
 •  EITC,                                                                     •  The parent, if only one of the persons is the child’s parent and 
 •  Child tax credit/credit for other dependents/additional child tax         the parent claims the child as a qualifying child;
           credit,                                                            •  The parent with whom the child lived longer during the tax year, 
 •  Head of household filing status,                                          if the child’s parents do not file a joint return together and both 
 •  Credit for child and dependent care expenses, and                         parents claim the child;
 •  Exclusion for dependent care benefits.                                    •  The parent with the higher AGI, if the child lived with each parent 
                                                                              for the same amount of time during the tax year, the child’s 
 Sometimes, a noncustodial parent may claim a child as a qualifying           parents do not file a joint return together, and both parents claim 
 child for the child tax credit/credit for other dependents/additional        the child as a qualifying child;
 child tax credit, and another person may claim the child as a                •  The person with the highest AGI, if no parent may claim the child 
 qualifying child for the other listed child-related tax benefits if the      as a qualifying child; or
 person is otherwise eligible.                                                •  The person with the highest AGI, if a parent may claim the child 
 See the tiebreaker rules below for rules on which person may claim           as a qualifying child but no parent claims the child as a qualifying 
 the child as a qualifying child when a child meets the definition of a       child, but only if that person has AGI higher than any parent who 
 qualifying child for more than one person. Also, note that a person          may claim the child as a qualifying child.
 who may not claim a child as a qualifying child under the tiebreaker 
 rules may qualify to claim the EITC under the rules for a taxpayer 
 without a qualifying child. See Publication 596 for more information.

                                             Life’s a little easier with
                                                   www.irs.gov/eitc
                          Publication 3524 (Rev. 11-2023)  Catalog Number 73196H  Department of the Treasury  Internal Revenue Service  www.irs.gov