The Earned Income Credit was designed to help lower and middle income working families. To claim the EIC, you must have what qualifies as earned income and also meet certain adjusted gross income (AGI) limits. (Otherwise, someone with very low earned income (such as from wages), but very high other types of income, could qualify for EIC, which is not what Congress intended).
Alimony, while not counted as earned income, is counted towards AGI.
