Projected — not yet official
Earned Income Credit for 2027 (Projected)
The EITC is refundable, so it can pay out even when no tax is owed — which makes the exact cut-offs worth knowing in advance. The 2027 table has not been published, so what follows is a ustax.tools estimate built on the statutory formula and clearly labelled throughout.
Projected 2027 maximum credit and income ceilings
| Qualifying children | Maximum credit | Income for the maximum | Credit gone by (single/HoH) | Credit gone by (joint) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No qualifying children | $679 | $8,880 | $19,986 | $27,426 |
| One qualifying child | $4,529 | $13,320 | $52,772 | $60,212 |
| Two qualifying children | $7,480 | $18,700 | $59,948 | $67,388 |
| Three or more qualifying children | $8,415 | $18,700 | $64,387 | $71,827 |
Every value shown is PROJECTED — a ustax.tools estimate anchored on the confirmed §4.06 table in IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and rounded under IRC §32(j)(2)(A). The last three columns come out of the statutory percentages; they were not estimated separately.
Where the credit starts shrinking
The ceilings above are where the credit hits zero. These are the points where it begins to come down, together with the statutory percentages driving each phase — those percentages are fixed in the Code and are not part of the projection.
| Qualifying children | Phase-out starts (single/HoH) | Phase-out starts (joint) | Credit rate | Phase-out rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No qualifying children | $11,110 | $18,550 | 7.65% | 7.65% |
| One qualifying child | $24,430 | $31,870 | 34% | 15.98% |
| Two qualifying children | $24,430 | $31,870 | 40% | 21.06% |
| Three or more qualifying children | $24,430 | $31,870 | 45% | 21.06% |
Run your own figures on the EITC calculator, and check the credits that most often stack with it — the child tax credit and the refund estimator for the combined result.
The investment income cliff
Every other limit on this page tapers. This one does not. Passing a projected $12,450 of investment income in 2027 — interest, dividends, capital gains, net rent and royalties combined — removes the credit in full, however low your wages are. It is the most common way an otherwise-eligible household loses the whole thing, and it moves on a different rounding rule from the rest of the table, dropping to the next lowest $50 rather than the nearest $10.
Methodology — how these projections were built
Only two families of figures are actually indexed by statute: the earned income amounts and the threshold phase-out amounts. Those two were raised by 2.27%, the pace comparable indexed thresholds set a year earlier, and rounded as IRC §32(j)(2)(A) directs, with the investment income ceiling rounded down in $50 steps under §32(j)(2)(B). Everything else — each maximum credit, each point where the credit reaches zero — was then derived from the statutory percentages rather than estimated, which keeps the table internally consistent. That derivation was validated first: applied to the official 2026 inputs it reproduces all twelve of the IRS's own published outputs to within a dollar. No outside forecaster had issued 2027 EITC numbers at the time of writing. The inflation assumption is the single soft input here; everything downstream of it is statutory arithmetic. Confirming price data is still months out.
Related 2027 references
- Standard deduction 2027 (projected)
- Tax brackets 2027 (projected)
- FSA contribution limits 2027 (projected)
- IRS refund schedule 2027 — EITC refunds are held until mid-February
Frequently asked questions
What is the earned income credit for 2027?
Our projection tops out at $8,415 with three or more qualifying children, $4,529 with one, and $679 for a worker with none — against confirmed 2026 maximums of $8,231 and $664 at those two extremes. Treat them as ustax.tools estimates rather than settled amounts; Treasury publishes the real grid late in 2026.
What is the income limit for the earned income credit in 2027?
It depends on your family size and whether you file jointly. The highest projected cut-off is $71,827, for a married couple filing jointly with three or more qualifying children; the lowest is $19,986, for a single worker with no children. The full grid is in the table above. Both adjusted gross income and earned income are tested, and whichever is higher is the one that counts against the limit.
How is the credit actually calculated?
In three phases. It climbs at a fixed percentage of your earned income up to a ceiling — that ceiling is the "earned income amount", and hitting it is what produces the maximum credit. It then sits flat across a plateau. Past the threshold phase-out amount it falls away at another fixed percentage until it reaches zero. Only the dollar figures are inflation-adjusted each year; the percentages are written into the statute and never change.
Why is the income limit higher for married couples filing jointly?
A long-standing marriage-penalty fix, not a new change. Section 32(b)(2)(B) adds a separate indexed amount to the phase-out start for joint filers — worth a projected $7,440 in 2027 — so a married couple can earn more before the credit begins to shrink. It predates recent legislation and is itself inflation-adjusted, which is why the gap between the joint and non-joint columns widens slightly every year.
How much investment income disqualifies you in 2027?
A projected $12,450, up from $12,200 in 2026. This is a cliff, not a taper: exceed it by a single dollar and the entire credit is lost regardless of how modest your wages are. It counts interest, dividends, capital gains and net rental or royalty income. Because it rounds down in $50 steps rather than to the nearest $10 like the rest of the table, it moves on its own schedule.
Did the One Big Beautiful Bill Act change the earned income credit?
No. OBBBA reshaped the brackets, the standard deduction, the AMT phase-out and the estate exclusion, but it made no amendment to section 32 at all. That actually makes this projection cleaner than the others on the site: there is no one-time legislative jump sitting in the 2026 baseline that has to be excluded before trending forward, so 2027 is straightforward inflation indexing of 2026.
How reliable are these projected EITC figures?
The dollar amounts are estimates and should be treated that way, but the internal structure is not guesswork. Feeding the official 2026 earned income amounts through the statutory formulas reproduces every one of the IRS's own published maximum credits and phase-out ceilings for that year to within a dollar. The same formulas generated the derived columns here, so any error is confined to the inflation assumption rather than compounding through the table.
When will the official 2027 EITC amounts be released?
Toward the end of 2026. Filing season for that year does not open until early 2027 in any case, and refunds claiming this credit sit under a statutory hold until mid-February, so settled numbers are always available long before anyone can claim on them.
Sources
Related insights
Use these guides for rule explanations, planning context, and follow-up questions beyond the calculator result.
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