FOR millions of Americans who work hard but don’t earn enough to support a family, the earned income tax credit (EITC) is a welcome relief during tax season.
EITC is designed to benefit wage earners who are either are low or moderate income earners.
So how does this affect your bottom line as a taxpayer? Here are the 2010 EITC eligibility requirements:
$35,535 if you have one child in your home
$40,363 if you have two children in your home
$43,352 if you have three or more children in your home
If you don’t have children, made less than $13,440, and were between the ages of 25 and 64 years during 2009, you may be eligible, too.
Add $5,010 to the figures if you are married and filing jointly.
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.”
Claiming the EITC will not negatively impact someone’s ability to qualify for food or cash assistance, Social Security, Medical Assistance or subsidized housing programs. This tax credit is available to anyone who worked even if they don’t have enough income that would mandate them to file federal income tax return. The key here is to file your return even if you don’t think you have enough income.
EITC can be claimed by both US citizens and legal residents. Many legal immigrants who are employed can get the EITC. Previous changes in federal law that denied public benefits such as food stamps and SSI to many legal immigrants did not apply to the EITC.
The EITC does not create “public charge” problems for immigrant workers. Receiving the EITC is not considered an indication that the immigrant is unable to support him- or herself financially. In general, information on a tax return is confidential.
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, which I will discuss on a succeeding issue).
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).
(Advertising Supplement)
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