DESIGNED to supplement the wages or earned income through self-employment of working families, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits taxpayers who are either low or moderate income earners by providing generous tax credits. It is believed to have helped alleviate poverty for around 6.5 million families, affecting 15 million children every year.
As part of the Bush-Era Tax Cuts program, the EITC is set to expire on December 31, 2012 so the chance that this is the last year to earn it would be highly probable after it has served as a comfortable cushion for its beneficiaries for more than 30 years.
Here are the 2012 EITC eligibility requirements:
For a single/head of household taxpayer:
$36,920 if you have one child in your home
$41,952 if you have two children in your home
$45,060 if you have three or more children in your home
If you don’t have children, made less than $13,980, and were between the ages of 25 and 64 years during 2011, you may be eligible, too.
For married filing jointly taxpayers:
$42,130 if you have one child in your home
$47,162 if you have two children in your home
$50,270 if you have three or more children in your home
If you don’t have children, made less than $19,190, and were between the ages of 25 and 64 years during 2011, you may be eligible, too.
To get the EITC, workers can file as: “single,” “head of household” or “married filing jointly.” But the EITC is not available to taxpayers who file as “married filing separately.”
EITC can be claimed by both US citizens and legal residents. Many legal immigrants who are employed can get the EITC. In order to claim the EITC, immigrant workers, their spouses, and children listed on Schedule EITC must each have valid Social Security numbers that permit them to work legally in the United States.
Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) issued by the IRS to non-citizens and non-work Social Security numbers issued to applicants or recipients of federally funded benefits programs cannot be used to claim the EITC. (Note: An ITIN can be used to claim the Child Tax Credit refund though).
In addition, an immigrant must be a “resident alien for tax purposes” for the entire tax year to claim the EITC. An immigrant who was a non-resident alien at any time during the year cannot claim the EITC unless he or she:
• was married to a U.S. citizen or a resident alien as of December 31 of the tax year, and
• files a joint tax return with the spouse and chooses to be treated as a resident alien for the entire year.
My office will be glad to assist should you need any assistance with claiming your EITC or income taxes in general.
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Evangeline is a California registered tax preparer, a legal document assistant for the general public, and a freelance paralegal offering assistance to various attorneys. She can be reached at her office at 2451 Colorado Blvd. #2, Eagle Rock, CA 90041 or at her marketing location inside the Eagle Rock Plaza. Her phone number is (323) 550-1869 or you can check her website at: www.evangelinegiron.net. She is a member of the court-endorsed California Association of Legal Document Assistant (CALDA) and an Associate Member (Non-attorney) of the LA County Bar Association (LACBA).
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Note: Evangeline is not an attorney nor does she provide legal advice. She is a bonded and registered Legal Document Assistant and prepares legal documents per the specific direction of clients.