Updated September 29, 2026. Quick answer: the maximum 2026 Earned Income Tax Credit ranges from $664 for a worker with no qualifying children to $8,231 for a worker with three or more, per IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, each figure up from 2025 by roughly 2%. The investment-income limit (the ceiling on unearned income before the credit is disallowed entirely) is $12,200 for 2026. Thomson Reuters Checkpoint’s September 2026 projections put the 2027 investment-income limit at $12,600, but Checkpoint’s report does not include a parallel table of projected 2027 maximum-credit dollar amounts, so those four figures are not yet projected by any named forecaster as of this page’s last update.
The confirmed 2025 and 2026 maximum EITC, by number of children
| 2025 | 2026 | Projected 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No qualifying children | $649 | $664 | Not yet projected |
| One qualifying child | $4,328 | $4,427 | Not yet projected |
| Two qualifying children | $7,152 | $7,316 | Not yet projected |
| Three or more qualifying children | $8,046 | $8,231 | Not yet projected |
| Investment income limit | $11,950 | $12,200 | $12,600 (Thomson Reuters Checkpoint, Sept 11, 2026) |
How the credit amount is set, and the gap in the 2027 projection
The EITC’s maximum credit amounts and its earned-income and investment-income thresholds are indexed annually under 26 U.S.C. §32, published each year in the same IRS Revenue Procedure that sets the standard deduction and the Child Tax Credit’s refundable cap: Revenue Procedure 2025-32 for 2026. Thomson Reuters Checkpoint’s annual pre-IRS projection report, published each September from that August’s CPI data, forecasts the underlying “earned income amount” thresholds and the investment-income cap for the coming year, but its publicly available September 11, 2026 release stops short of restating the four maximum-credit dollar figures the way the official Revenue Procedure table does, a genuine, disclosed gap rather than an oversight on this page’s part.
The rates are already settled. Only the thresholds are still moving.
That is enough to plan against. A Roth conversion, a deferred bonus or a gain taken in 2027 can be sized today against the 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37% rates the statute already fixes, without waiting for the Revenue Procedure. If you want someone to price that decision against your own income rather than a projection, this is the point to ask.
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Sources
The earned income credit and investment-income limit figures on this page were checked against IRS Revenue Procedures 2025-32 (2026 amounts) and 2024-40 (2025 amounts) on September 29, 2026.
- IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, §4.06: 2026 maximum EITC table and investment-income limit.
- IRS Revenue Procedure 2024-40, §2.06: 2025 maximum EITC table and investment-income limit.
- IRS Newsroom, IR-2025-103 (2026 tax inflation adjustments): the IRS release announcing the 2026 adjustments; the credit amounts on this page come from the revenue procedure cited above.
2027 projection: Thomson Reuters Checkpoint (investment-income limit only), September 11, 2026.
Statute: 26 U.S.C. §32.
Related
General information, not tax or legal advice. This page will be updated with the official 2027 figure the day it is announced.