IRS Urges Qualified Taxpayers to Claim Earned Income Tax Credit

Last year, more than 23 million people received $2,916 on average under the program.

The IRS in Washington on Jan. 6, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The IRS is encouraging taxpayers to claim their Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as part of the annual EITC Awareness Day outreach campaign to help millions of Americans secure credits this year, the agency said in a statement on Jan. 23.

The EITC is aimed at low-income taxpayers who obtain credits if they have children, dependents, or disabilities. The credits can be used to reduce the amount they owe in taxes.

“The Earned Income Tax Credit is vital to supporting working American families and rewarding them for their hard work,” IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano said.

“The IRS encourages every taxpayer who qualifies for the credit to claim the full amount they are due under the Internal Revenue Code.”

In 2025, an estimated 23.5 million workers and families benefited from the program and received a total of roughly $68.5 billion in EITC payments, an average of $2,916 each.

Low-income taxpayers may be eligible for the EITC, and the amount of credit will be affected by whether the recipients have children, dependents, or a disability, according to the IRS website.

The agency estimates that about one in five taxpayers eligible for the EITC do not claim the credit, underscoring the importance of the annual outreach campaign.

Taxpayers can use the EITC Assistant tool to check their eligibility and estimate their credit amount. The IRS encouraged electronic filing of returns and the use of direct deposit for faster refunds.

The IRS stated that most of the early EITC or Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) refunds should be “available in taxpayer bank accounts or debit card by March 2, 2026, if they choose direct deposit and there are no other issues with the return.”

It stated that some taxpayers may have access to their refunds sooner, “depending on their financial institution’s process.”

The IRS’s “Where’s My Refund?” tool, which allows taxpayers to check their refund status, “will be updated with projected deposit dates for most early EITC/ACTC refund filers by Feb. 21, 2026,” the agency said.

2026 Filing Season

Earlier this month, the IRS announced that the 2026 filing season for submitting 2025 tax returns would begin on Jan. 26 and that the final deadline is April 15.

At the time, Bisignano affirmed that the agency was fully prepared for the filing season.

“[The IRS] is ready to help taxpayers meet their tax filing and payment obligations during the 2026 filing season,” he said.

“IRS information systems have been updated to incorporate the new tax laws and are ready to efficiently and effectively process taxpayer returns during the filing season.”

The agency stated that it is expecting to receive roughly 164 million individual income tax returns.

In a Jan. 14 statement, the IRS encouraged taxpayers to prepare to file their taxes for the current season by gathering and organizing all relevant records needed to file returns.

This includes W-2 forms from employers, 1099-K forms to report income from gig work, 1099-INT forms for people who receive interest, and 1099 forms from banks and other payers if taxpayers receive dividends, pensions, or retirement plan distributions.

On Jan. 23, the IRS released answers to frequently asked questions about new deductions for qualified overtime compensation under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump in July 2025.

The provision allows taxpayers receiving qualified overtime compensation to deduct the amount exceeding their regular rate of pay when filing returns for tax years 2025 through 2028. The overtime pay must be reported on a W-2 or 1099, the IRS said.

The IRS’s answers to common questions can help employees determine whether the overtime compensation they received qualifies for such deductions, according to the agency. The release also contains useful information on the differences in reporting requirements between tax year 2025 and tax years 2026–2028.

Meanwhile, the $1,776 “warrior dividend” payments announced by Trump to 1.45 million military personnel before Christmas 2025 won’t be subjected to taxation, the IRS said last week. The payments were excluded from taxation under U.S. tax law provisions that exempt “qualified military benefits” from taxation.