Earned Income Credit: Two Lookups
Compare earned income and AGI.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute
The earned income credit can require two income lookups, not just the wage total.
A fictional single 30-year-old U.S. citizen lives alone in Ohio throughout 2025. They have no qualifying children, cannot be claimed as anyone’s dependent or qualifying child, and have an employment-valid SSN issued before the return deadline, including extensions. No prior credit disallowance applies.
Their only income is $15,000 ordinary nonstatutory employee wages and $3,000 taxable bank interest. There is no self-employment, clergy employment, foreign income, combat pay or income adjustment. Earned income is $15,000; adjusted gross income is $18,000. Investment income is $3,000, below the $11,950 ceiling.
The 2025 EIC table, single-filer column with zero children, gives $312 at $15,000 and $83 at $18,000.
Worksheet A requires the AGI lookup here and selects the smaller result: $83, not $312. Interest is not earned income, but it affects this comparison through AGI. The credit is not the final refund after other taxes, credits and withholding.
