I have 2 kids jointly we made less than 48k a year. Why is the EITC 3,362? Shouldn't be $6,960? No other income. I don't owe the IRS anything.

[pashment]

By not owing the IRS anything I mean from previous years.

[Vanessa A]

Earned Income Credit is awarded based on the bell curve.  If your income is $0 you receive $0 in credit.  As your income goes up, your credit amount goes up until you reach the peak of the bell curve, then as your income continues to go up your credit will go down. With income of just under $48,000 you are close to the bottom of the downside of the curve where the credit phases out.  This is why you are not receiving the Maximum credit that someone who is married with 2 children can receive. 

EITC Table

[xmasbaby0]

You do necessarily get the maximum amount of EIC.   The calculation for EIC is a complicated one on a bell curve, based on how much you earned from working.  You can get more information from the table n IRS Pub. 596

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-credits-deductions/qualifications-ea...

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p596.pdf

Look at your 2024 Form 1040 to see the child-related credits you received

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/preview-turbotax-online-retur...

Child Tax Credit line 19

Credit for Other Dependents line 19

Earned Income Credit line 27

Additional Child Tax Credit line 28

[pashment]

Thank you for your answer. I am a bit confused. Bellow is the numbers under $48000 so which number do you think applies to us for the earned credit? Filing jointly. Also last year we made less and got full credit.  Non of these numbers looks like it's $3,362

48,000 48,050 5,619 5,299 5,619 5,432