You would still use the amount of Earned Income reported on your jointly filed 2019 return to determine whether or not to use the lookback provision. The Earned Income Credit is going to use your 2020 AGI whether you use 2019 or 2020 earned income. You can only use the lookback provision for the 'earned income' number; TurboTax is still going to use your 2020 AGI as part of the calculation. When you go through the EIC section, you can see what your credit is using both figures and then choose the largest amount. TurboTax will take care of reporting the higher credit on Line 27, you don't need to enter anything directly on Form 1040.
To use the lookback feature in TurboTax Online, go to the Earned Income Tax Credit section.
- In the Search box on the top right of your screen, enter EIC or eic and hit enter; click on Jump to eic
- Follow the interview until you arrive at a page titled Do you want to use last year's earned income? make a note of the amount of your credit using the 2020 earned income...
- Click on Yes and enter your 2019 earned income and click Continue
TurboTax will show your new Earned Income tax credit using your 2019 earned income. If the new credit is higher, click Continue to accept it. If the new credit is lower, click Back to go back to the previous screen and click the radio button No then click Continue.
Where you can find your 2019 earned income amounts: Generally, earned income includes wages (including non-taxable combat pay), tips, and other payments received for services you personally performed.
On a 2019 tax return, this usually includes the total of the amounts reported on:
- Form 1040, line 1 (Wages, salaries, and tips)
- Schedule C, line 3 of Schedule 1 (net business income)
- Schedule F, line 6 of Schedule 1 (net farm income)
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