Qualifying child rules

To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must be:

• Any age and permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year. For more information, see Disability and Earned Income Tax Credit.

or

• Under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return)

or

• Under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student for at least 5 months of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return)

Full-time student definition

To be considered full-time, the student must have enrolled for the number of hours or courses their school considers to be full-time attendance. Students who work on "co-op" jobs in private industry as a part of a school's official program are also considered full-time students.

School definition

For the EITC, a school is:

• Elementary school
• Junior or senior high school
• College or university
• Technical, trade or mechanical school

A school is not:

• On-the-job training course
• Correspondence school
• School offering courses only through the Internet

For more information on students and schools, see Publication 596, Earned Income Credit, Student Defined and School Defined.

To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must be your:

• Son, daughter, stepchild, adopted child or foster child
• Brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepsister or stepbrother
• Grandchild, niece or nephew

Adopted child definition

An adopted child is a child who is lawfully placed with you for legal adoption.

Foster child definition

For the EITC, you can only claim a foster child that is placed with you by:

• A State or local government agency
• An Indian tribal government
• A tax-exempt organization licensed by a state or an Indian tribal government
• A court order

To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must live in the same home as you in the United States for more than half of the tax year. The United States includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. military bases. It does not include United States possessions such as Guam, the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico.

Your home can be any location where you regularly live. You don't need a traditional home. For example, if your child lived with you for more than half the year in one or more homeless shelters, your child meets the residency test.

Birth or death of a child

A child who was born or died during the tax year is treated as having lived with you for more than half the year if your home was the child’s home for more than half the time the child was alive.

Temporary absences

If your child was temporarily away from home, we count that as time lived with you. Examples include:

• Illness or hospitalization
• School attendance, vacation, business or military service
• Detention in a juvenile facility

For more residency information, see:

• Homeless shelters
• Military personnel
  • Stationed outside the United States
  • Extended active duty
• Kidnapped child
• Adopted child

Note: If you adopted a child or an eligible foster child was placed with you during the tax year, the child is considered to have lived with you for more than half of the year if your main home was this child’s main home for more than half the time the child was adopted or placed with you.

If your child can file a joint return with another person (for example, their husband or wife), you may not be able to claim them.

To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must not have filed a joint return with another person (for example, their husband or wife) to claim any credits such as the EITC. Your child can file a joint tax return only to get a tax refund on tax withheld from their paycheck or estimated tax paid.

For more information see:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit (EIC)
• Publication 501, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information