The Earned Income Credit looks at 2 numbers as well as the number of qualifying children you have. Both your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and your Earned Income are factored in. The lookback provision applied to the Earned Income part, but not the Adjusted Gross Income part. Any reference to AGI will use your 2021 AGI. Even if you technically qualify for the EITC, it will be $0 if you have no earned income (unemployment is not earned income). But because of the lookback rule, you can have $0 earned income in 2021 but use your 2019 earned income (not $0) to qualify for a bigger credit.
If you follow the instructions in TurboTax and you get a larger credit using the lookback, you can rest assured you will not be disqualified from taking the credit in the future. TurboTax is following the IRS and applying the federal tax code.
@NArn002 @Kfrank55
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