Research
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Report 2026: A Verified Data Profile
The Earned Income Tax Credit is the largest federal refundable tax credit for low- and moderate-income workers and the single largest cash-based anti-poverty program administered through the U.S. tax code. This report compiles verified data on how many people claim it, how much it pays, its 2026 statutory parameters, how many eligible workers miss it, its improper-payment rate, its audit profile, and its distribution across states. Every figure carries its exact year, geography, and primary source. Today’s date is 2026-06-29; federal data lags one to two years, and each figure is labeled accordingly.
Executive summary
- Approximately 24 million workers and families received about $70 billion in EITC for tax year 2024, an average of $2,894 per return nationwide (IRS EITC Central, statistics accessed 2025).
- The tax year 2026 maximum EITC is $8,231 for a filer with three or more qualifying children, $7,316 for two children, $4,427 for one child, and $664 for no qualifying children (IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-32, October 2025).
- The national EITC participation (take-up) rate was 80.8% for tax year 2022, meaning roughly one in five eligible workers did not claim the credit (IRS, EITC Participation Rate by State, TY2022).
- The EITC improper-payment rate was an estimated 27.3% in fiscal year 2024, equal to about $15.9 billion (National Taxpayer Advocate 2024 Annual Report to Congress, citing PaymentAccuracy.gov FY2024).
- EITC returns were audited at 0.9% in fiscal year 2022, more than four times the 0.2% rate for all individual income tax returns (U.S. GAO, GAO-24-106126, citing IRS data).
- The federal EITC and the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit together lifted 6.4 million people, including 3.4 million children, above the poverty line in 2023 under the Supplemental Poverty Measure (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, citing U.S. Census Bureau SPM, 2023).
- Texas ($8.8 billion) and California ($6.7 billion) were the two largest EITC states by total dollars claimed for tax year 2024 (IRS EITC Central state table, TY2024, preliminary).
- The EITC was enacted in 1975 under the Tax Reduction Act; claimants grew from 6.2 million in 1975 to about 24 million in tax year 2024 (Congressional Research Service R43805; IRS EITC Central).
Key findings
- About 24 million workers and families received the EITC for tax year 2024 nationwide (IRS EITC Central, accessed 2025).
- Total EITC paid was about $70 billion for tax year 2024 nationwide (IRS EITC Central, accessed 2025).
- The average EITC was $2,894 for tax year 2024 nationwide (IRS EITC Central, accessed 2025).
- For tax year 2023, about 23 million filers received about $64 billion, averaging $2,743 (IRS EITC Central, accessed 2024).
- For tax year 2021, about 31 million filers received about $64 billion, averaging about $2,043, reflecting temporary pandemic-era expansion of the childless-worker credit (IRS EITC Central).
- The tax year 2026 maximum credit is $8,231 for three or more qualifying children (IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-32, October 2025).
- For tax year 2026, EITC is disallowed if investment income exceeds $12,200 (IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-32, October 2025).
- The tax year 2026 completed phaseout (income at which the credit reaches zero) is $70,244 for married-filing-jointly filers with three or more children (IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-32, October 2025).
- The national participation rate was 80.8% for tax year 2022 (IRS, EITC Participation Rate by State, TY2022).
- Maine had the highest state participation rate at 85.2% and the District of Columbia the lowest at 73.6% for tax year 2022 (IRS, EITC Participation Rate by State, TY2022).
- The EITC improper-payment rate was an estimated 27.3% (about $15.9 billion) in fiscal year 2024 (National Taxpayer Advocate 2024 Annual Report, citing PaymentAccuracy.gov FY2024).
- The EITC improper-payment rate was estimated near 33% in fiscal year 2023 (National Taxpayer Advocate 2024 Annual Report, citing Payment Accuracy FY2023).
- EITC returns were audited at 0.9% versus 0.2% for all individual returns in fiscal year 2022, a ratio above 4 to 1 (U.S. GAO, GAO-24-106126).
- Almost all EITC audits, about 99%, are conducted by mail as correspondence audits (Taxpayer Advocate Service, 2023).
- Texas led all states with about $8.8 billion in total EITC for tax year 2024; Louisiana had the highest average credit at $3,494 (IRS EITC Central state table, TY2024, preliminary).
- The EITC and refundable CTC together lifted 6.4 million people above the poverty line in 2023 under the Supplemental Poverty Measure (CBPP, citing Census SPM, 2023).
The core numbers: returns, dollars, and average credit
The EITC is claimed on individual income tax returns (Form 1040 with Schedule EIC when a qualifying child is claimed). The IRS publishes national counts on its EITC Central “Statistics for tax returns with the EITC” page. These are approximate, sample-based fact-sheet figures credited after math-error processing; they exclude later amended returns, examinations, and other adjustments.
For tax year 2024, about 24 million workers and families received about $70 billion, an average of $2,894 (IRS EITC Central, accessed 2025). The average credit has risen steadily as the childless-worker expansion of 2021 rolled off and family-size credits kept pace with inflation.
| Tax year | Returns receiving EITC | Total EITC | Average credit | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | ~31 million | ~$64 billion | ~$2,043 | IRS EITC Central |
| 2022 | ~23 million | ~$57 billion | ~$2,541 | IRS EITC Central |
| 2023 | ~23 million | ~$64 billion | ~$2,743 | IRS EITC Central |
| 2024 | ~24 million | ~$70 billion | ~$2,894 | IRS EITC Central |
Note the 2021 spike to 31 million recipients: the American Rescue Plan Act temporarily roughly tripled the maximum childless-worker credit and widened its age eligibility for tax year 2021 only, drawing millions of childless workers into the credit. That expansion expired, and counts returned to about 23 million for 2022. What the numbers mean: total dollars rose from 2022 to 2024 even as the recipient count held near 23 to 24 million, because the average credit grew with statutory inflation indexing. Limitation: because these are rounded fact-sheet figures, small year-over-year percentage changes should be treated as directional, not precise.
2026 statutory parameters (Rev. Proc. 2025-32)
The IRS sets EITC parameters annually by inflation adjustment under Internal Revenue Code section 32. The tax year 2026 values below come directly from Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 3.06, released October 2025. The “earned income amount” is the income at which the maximum credit is first reached; the “threshold phaseout amount” is where the credit begins to fall; the “completed phaseout amount” is where it reaches zero.
| Item | No children | 1 child | 2 children | 3+ children |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum credit | $664 | $4,427 | $7,316 | $8,231 |
| Earned income amount | $8,680 | $13,020 | $18,290 | $18,290 |
| Phaseout begins (single/HoH) | $10,860 | $23,890 | $23,890 | $23,890 |
| Fully phased out (single/HoH) | $19,540 | $51,593 | $58,629 | $62,974 |
| Phaseout begins (married joint) | $18,140 | $31,160 | $31,160 | $31,160 |
| Fully phased out (married joint) | $26,820 | $58,863 | $65,899 | $70,244 |
Source: IRS, Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 3.06, October 2025.
For tax year 2026, the credit is disallowed entirely if a filer’s investment income exceeds $12,200 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 3.06(2)). The married-filing-jointly phaseout thresholds are set higher than other statuses to reduce the marriage penalty, per IRC section 32(b)(2)(B). Context: the maximum three-child credit rose from $8,046 in tax year 2025 to $8,231 in tax year 2026, a 2.3% inflation adjustment (IRS newsroom release on Rev. Proc. 2025-32, October 2025). These are the maximum credit amounts; the actual credit depends on earned income, adjusted gross income, and filing status.
Participation and take-up: the missed-benefit gap
The participation rate is the share of eligible workers who actually receive the EITC. The IRS produces it jointly with the U.S. Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies by linking American Community Survey data to IRS tax records. The most recent published rate is 80.8% for tax year 2022 (IRS, EITC Participation Rate by State). That implies roughly one in five eligible workers, about 19.2%, did not claim it.
The IRS states as a general rule that about four of five eligible taxpayers claim and receive the EITC (IRS EITC Central), consistent with the 80.8% figure.
| State group (TY2022) | Participation rate |
|---|---|
| Highest: Maine | 85.2% |
| Highest: West Virginia | 85.1% |
| National | 80.8% |
| Lowest: Alaska / Montana | 75.1% |
| Lowest: District of Columbia | 73.6% |
Source: IRS, EITC Participation Rate by State, tax year 2022.
What the numbers mean: non-participation concentrates among workers without a filing requirement, workers who recently became eligible, non-English speakers, and rural and childless workers. The Taxpayer Advocate notes that roughly 20% of eligible taxpayers do not claim the EITC (National Taxpayer Advocate 2024 Annual Report). Limitation: participation estimates lag two-plus years and depend on survey-to-administrative-record matching, so state-level figures carry wider error bands than the national rate.
The improper-payment (overclaim) rate
The EITC carries one of the highest improper-payment rates of any large federal program. An improper payment is any payment made in the wrong amount or to an ineligible recipient; it is a statistical estimate, not a measure of fraud, and includes underpayments as well as overpayments. The estimated EITC improper-payment rate was 27.3% in fiscal year 2024, about $15.9 billion (National Taxpayer Advocate 2024 Annual Report to Congress, citing PaymentAccuracy.gov FY2024). For fiscal year 2023 the estimate was near 33% (same source, citing Payment Accuracy FY2023).
| Fiscal year | Improper-payment rate | Improper $ (est.) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | ~33% | not separately stated here | NTA 2024 report, citing Payment Accuracy FY2023 |
| FY2024 | 27.3% | ~$15.9 billion | NTA 2024 report, citing Payment Accuracy FY2024 |
The Treasury and IRS attribute the rate primarily to the difficulty of verifying qualifying-child relationship and residency rules and to misreported self-employment income the IRS cannot cross-check at filing (Treasury FY2024 Agency Financial Report, as summarized by TIGTA and the NTA). The IRS has stated that a meaningful reduction is unlikely without independent third-party data sources to verify taxpayer-provided information. Limitation and flag: this is not a fraud rate. Complex eligibility rules, honest errors, and paid-preparer mistakes drive a large share of overclaims. Independent researchers and the Taxpayer Advocate caution that the estimation methodology, based on audits of a sample of returns, may overstate true overclaims because taxpayers who fail to respond to correspondence audits have credits disallowed by default.
Audit focus on EITC filers
EITC claimants are audited at a rate well above the general filing population. EITC returns were audited at 0.9% in fiscal year 2022 versus 0.2% for all individual income tax returns, a ratio above 4 to 1 (U.S. GAO, GAO-24-106126, citing IRS data). Almost all EITC examinations, about 99%, are correspondence (mail) audits rather than in-person field audits (Taxpayer Advocate Service, 2023). EITC audits make up a large share of the IRS’s total correspondence-audit workload because they are low-cost per case.
Historically, the EITC audit rate fell from 1.8% of 2011 claimants to 0.9% of 2018 claimants as enforcement resources declined (U.S. GAO). Academic and GAO analysis has found that the concentration of audits on EITC returns is a primary driver of documented racial disparities in individual audit selection (U.S. GAO, GAO-24-106126). What the numbers mean: because the credit is refundable and paid before third-party verification is complete, the IRS front-loads compliance through pre-refund filters and low-cost mail audits. Limitation: audit-rate figures lag, and the 0.9% versus 0.2% comparison is the FY2022 GAO series, the most recent complete published comparison; more recent single-year rates are not directly comparable across the agency’s shifting audit mix.
Distribution by state (tax year 2024, preliminary)
The IRS publishes state-level EITC counts, total dollars, and average credit. The five largest states by total EITC dollars and the extremes on average credit for tax year 2024 are below (IRS EITC Central state table, preliminary).
| State | EITC claims | Total EITC | Average credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | ~2.7 million | ~$8.8 billion | $3,234 |
| California | ~2.5 million | ~$6.7 billion | $2,669 |
| Florida | ~2.2 million | ~$6.2 billion | $2,802 |
| New York | ~1.5 million | ~$4.2 billion | $2,753 |
| Georgia | ~1.0 million | ~$3.3 billion | $3,275 |
| Highest avg: Louisiana | $3,494 | ||
| Lowest avg: New Hampshire | $2,242 |
Source: IRS EITC Central, “Statistics for tax returns with the EITC,” state table, tax year 2024 (preliminary).
What the numbers mean: California has more claimants than Texas but a lower average credit ($2,669 vs $3,234) and lower total dollars, reflecting differences in family size, earnings distribution, and the mix of childless versus with-children claimants. States clustered in the South (Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi) show the highest average credits, consistent with larger average family sizes among claimants. Limitation and flag: the tax year 2024 state figures are preliminary and rounded; claim counts are expressed to one or two significant figures on the IRS fact sheet.
Original synthesis
Insight 1: The “Missed Benefit Index” (unclaimed EITC dollars, TY2024 basis)
Logic: If the national participation rate is 80.8% (TY2022, the latest available), then the 24 million recipients in tax year 2024 represent 80.8% of the eligible population. Eligible population = 24,000,000 / 0.808 = 29.7 million. Non-claimants = 29.7M minus 24.0M = about 5.7 million eligible workers who did not claim.
Unclaimed dollar estimate: applying the national average credit of $2,894 to 5.7 million non-claimants yields roughly $16.5 billion in EITC left unclaimed on a tax-year-2024 basis. This is an upper-bound style estimate; non-claimants are disproportionately childless workers with smaller average credits, so the true unclaimed total is likely lower. For context, the Taxpayer Advocate has cited TIGTA estimates of roughly $7 billion unclaimed annually among a narrower non-claimant definition.
Inputs: IRS EITC Central TY2024 recipient count and average credit; IRS TY2022 national participation rate (80.8%). Limitations: participation rate and recipient count are from different years (2022 vs 2024) and non-claimants skew toward lower-value childless credits, so this figure overstates the realistic recoverable amount. Flag as a modeled estimate, not an IRS-published number.
Insight 2: The “Overclaim-to-Audit Mismatch”
Logic: The EITC improper-payment rate was 27.3% in FY2024 (about $15.9 billion), while the EITC audit rate was 0.9% of claimants (FY2022). Comparing the compliance-risk signal to enforcement intensity: the program with the highest improper-payment rate among large federal programs is examined on fewer than 1 in 100 returns, and 99% of those exams are low-touch mail audits. The ratio of estimated improper dollars to the audited population illustrates why the IRS relies on pre-refund filtering rather than back-end audit: recovering $15.9 billion through 0.9% correspondence audits is arithmetically implausible.
Inputs: FY2024 improper-payment rate/dollars (NTA/Payment Accuracy); FY2022 audit rate (GAO). Limitations: rates are from different fiscal years and the improper-payment estimate is itself audit-derived, creating partial circularity. This insight is a framing comparison, not a causal claim.
Insight 3: State “Credit Intensity” ranking (average credit as a family-size proxy)
Logic: Ranking states by average EITC credit isolates a proxy for claimant family size and earnings mix, independent of population. Louisiana ($3,494), Georgia ($3,275), and Texas ($3,234) top the ranking; New Hampshire ($2,242) sits at the bottom. The spread from top to bottom is $1,252, or 56% of the low value, showing that a claimant in Louisiana receives on average more than half again what a New Hampshire claimant receives. This reflects that high-average-credit states have more claimants with two or more qualifying children, where the maximum credit is three to twelve times the childless maximum.
Inputs: IRS EITC Central TY2024 state average-credit figures; Rev. Proc. 2025-32 credit-by-child-count structure. Limitations: TY2024 state data is preliminary; the average-credit gap conflates family size, earnings level, and childless-worker share, so it is a composite proxy rather than a pure family-size measure.
Tables
EITC national trend (tax years 2021 to 2024)
See “The core numbers” section above.
2026 statutory parameter table
See “2026 statutory parameters” section above.
State distribution (TY2024, preliminary)
See “Distribution by state” section above.
Charts to create
- Title: “EITC Total Dollars and Recipients, TY2021 to TY2024.” Data: recipient count and total dollars per year. Source: IRS EITC Central. Insight: total dollars grew even as recipients held steady, driven by rising average credit; the 2021 spike shows the pandemic childless-worker expansion. Citation-worthy because it visualizes a policy effect and a benefit-adequacy trend in one frame.
- Title: “2026 EITC by Number of Children: Maximum Credit and Phaseout.” Data: maximum credit and completed-phaseout income by child count. Source: Rev. Proc. 2025-32. Insight: the steep jump from $664 (no children) to $4,427 (one child) shows the credit’s family orientation. Citation-worthy as the canonical current-parameter reference.
- Title: “EITC Participation Rate by State, TY2022.” Data: state participation rates. Source: IRS/Census. Insight: a 12-point spread between Maine and DC reveals where outreach could recover unclaimed benefits. Citation-worthy for state-policy and outreach reporting.
- Title: “Improper-Payment Rate vs Audit Rate.” Data: FY2024 improper rate (27.3%) against FY2022 audit rate (0.9%). Source: NTA/Payment Accuracy; GAO. Insight: the enforcement-versus-risk mismatch. Citation-worthy for tax-policy debate.
Methodology
Source-selection criteria: Tier-1 primary sources were prioritized (IRS EITC Central, IRS Statistics of Income, IRS newsroom and Revenue Procedure, IRS/Census participation data, IRS Data Book Table 17, GAO, National Taxpayer Advocate, PaymentAccuracy.gov/Treasury AFR, Census SPM). Secondary sources (CBPP, CRS) were used only where they restate primary data, and are labeled Tier 2 or Tier 3.
Inclusion/exclusion rules: every statistic required a verifiable primary source, an exact year or fiscal year, and a geography. Figures that could not be tied to a primary source were excluded. The FY2025 improper-payment figure circulating in secondary reports (~$21 billion) was excluded from the headline because it was not confirmed against a primary Payment Accuracy or Treasury AFR page during verification; only the FY2024 rate (27.3% / $15.9 billion) and FY2023 (~33%) are reported, sourced to the NTA report citing Payment Accuracy.
Handling conflicting numbers: the average TY2024 credit is reported as $2,894 (IRS nationwide fact-sheet figure). Where the IRS statistics page and secondary summaries differed on rounding, the IRS figure was used. National recipient and dollar totals are the IRS “approximate” fact-sheet values and are labeled as such.
Derived figures: the three original insights are modeled from published IRS and GAO inputs; each states its formula, inputs, and limitations inline. They are not IRS-published numbers.
Data limitations: SOI and state data lag one to two years; the participation rate lags to TY2022; the audit-rate comparison is FY2022; the improper-payment rate is a statistical estimate, not a fraud measure. Date of last update: 2026-06-29.
Source quality ranking
Tier 1 (primary/government):
– IRS EITC Central, “Statistics for tax returns with the EITC” (national and state counts, TY2021 to TY2024).
– IRS, Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (2026 statutory parameters).
– IRS newsroom, “Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026” (Oct. 2025).
– IRS, EITC Participation Rate by State (TY2022, produced with Census CES).
– IRS Data Book / SOI Table 17 (examination coverage).
– U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-24-106126 and GAO-22-104960 (audit rates and equity).
– National Taxpayer Advocate, 2024 Annual Report to Congress (improper payments, participation).
– PaymentAccuracy.gov / Treasury Agency Financial Report FY2024 (improper-payment rate; accessed via NTA citation).
– U.S. Census Bureau Supplemental Poverty Measure (anti-poverty impact, via CBPP).
Tier 2 / Tier 3 (secondary, cite primary data):
– Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (anti-poverty synthesis, Census SPM).
– Congressional Research Service R43805 and IF12521 (program history and audit distribution).
– Taxpayer Advocate Service blog posts (audit process context).
Excluded and why: the ~$21 billion FY2025 improper-payment figure (unverified against a primary source during this pass); advocacy-organization estimates not tied to primary data; commercial tax-prep blog parameter tables (superseded by Rev. Proc. 2025-32 direct extraction).
Citation format
- Returns/dollars/average:
Source: Internal Revenue Service, EITC Central, Statistics for Tax Returns with the EITC, tax year 2024 (accessed 2025). - 2026 parameters:
Source: Internal Revenue Service, Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 3.06, October 2025. - Participation:
Source: Internal Revenue Service, EITC Participation Rate by State, tax year 2022 (produced with U.S. Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies). - Improper payments:
Source: National Taxpayer Advocate, 2024 Annual Report to Congress, citing PaymentAccuracy.gov, fiscal year 2024. - Audit rate:
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-24-106126, citing IRS data, fiscal year 2022. - Anti-poverty:
Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, citing U.S. Census Bureau Supplemental Poverty Measure, 2023.
Journalist-friendly additions
Most quotable statistics
- 24 million families received about $70 billion in EITC in tax year 2024, averaging $2,894 (IRS EITC Central).
- The 2026 maximum EITC is $8,231 for three or more children (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
- One in five eligible workers, about 19%, did not claim the EITC in tax year 2022 (IRS/Census).
- The EITC improper-payment rate was 27.3%, about $15.9 billion, in fiscal year 2024 (NTA/Payment Accuracy).
- EITC filers were audited at more than four times the rate of all individual returns in fiscal year 2022 (GAO).
Data limitations
National totals are rounded IRS fact-sheet figures; TY2024 state data is preliminary; the participation rate lags to TY2022; the audit comparison is FY2022; the improper-payment rate is a statistical estimate that includes honest errors and is not a fraud rate.
Downloadable dataset: recommended fields
tax_year, geography (national/state), returns_with_eitc, total_eitc_dollars, average_eitc_dollars, participation_rate_pct, participation_tax_year, improper_payment_rate_pct, improper_payment_dollars, fiscal_year, eitc_audit_rate_pct, max_credit_2026_by_children, phaseout_threshold_2026, completed_phaseout_2026, filing_status, source_name, source_url, source_date.
Press summary (about 150 words)
The Earned Income Tax Credit remains the largest cash-based anti-poverty program run through the U.S. tax code. For tax year 2024, about 24 million workers and families received roughly $70 billion, an average credit of $2,894, according to IRS EITC Central data. For tax year 2026, the IRS set the maximum credit at $8,231 for filers with three or more qualifying children and $664 for workers with no children, under Revenue Procedure 2025-32. The credit reaches deep but not completely: the national participation rate was 80.8% in tax year 2022, leaving about one in five eligible workers unpaid. The program also carries a 27.3% improper-payment rate, roughly $15.9 billion, in fiscal year 2024, and EITC filers were audited at more than four times the rate of all individual returns in fiscal year 2022. Texas and California claimed the most EITC dollars in tax year 2024.
Suggested headlines
- “24 Million Families, $70 Billion: The EITC by the Numbers for 2026”
- “The 2026 EITC Maxes Out at $8,231. Here Is Who Qualifies.”
- “One in Five Eligible Workers Still Misses the EITC”
- “Why the EITC Has a 27% Error Rate and a 0.9% Audit Rate”
- “Mapping the EITC: Texas Leads in Dollars, Louisiana in Average Credit”
FAQs
- How many people claim the EITC? About 24 million workers and families for tax year 2024 (IRS EITC Central).
- How much does the EITC pay in total? About $70 billion for tax year 2024 (IRS EITC Central).
- What is the average EITC? $2,894 for tax year 2024 (IRS EITC Central).
- What is the maximum EITC for 2026? $8,231 with three or more qualifying children (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
- What is the maximum EITC with no children in 2026? $664 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
- What is the 2026 income limit? For married-filing-jointly filers with three or more children, the credit fully phases out at $70,244 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
- What is the investment-income limit for 2026? $12,200 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
- What share of eligible workers claim it? About 80.8% in tax year 2022 (IRS/Census).
- What is the EITC improper-payment rate? An estimated 27.3%, about $15.9 billion, in fiscal year 2024 (NTA/Payment Accuracy).
- Are EITC filers audited more? Yes; 0.9% versus 0.2% for all individual returns in fiscal year 2022 (GAO).
Sources
- Internal Revenue Service, EITC Central, Statistics for Tax Returns with the EITC. https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/eitc-central/statistics-for-tax-returns-with-the-earned-income-tax-credit-eitc
- Internal Revenue Service, Revenue Procedure 2025-32. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf
- Internal Revenue Service, Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 (news release). https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2026-including-amendments-from-the-one-big-beautiful-bill
- Internal Revenue Service, EITC Participation Rate by State. https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/eitc-central/eitc-participation-rate-by-state
- Internal Revenue Service, EITC reports and statistics. https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/eitc-reports-and-statistics
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-24-106126, Tax Enforcement: IRS Audit Selection Processes for Returns Claiming Refundable Credits. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106126
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-22-104960, Tax Compliance: Trends of IRS Audit Rates. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104960
- National Taxpayer Advocate, 2024 Annual Report to Congress (Purple Book, EITC restructuring recommendation). https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ARC24_PurpleBook_08_MiscRecs_51.pdf
- PaymentAccuracy.gov (federal improper-payment data). https://www.paymentaccuracy.gov/
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Earned Income Tax Credit / Policy Basics, citing Census SPM. https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-earned-income-tax-credit
- Congressional Research Service, R43805, The Earned Income Tax Credit: How It Works and Who Receives It. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R43805
- Congressional Research Service, IF12521, Distribution of IRS Audits by Income and Race. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12521
- Taxpayer Advocate Service, EITC Audits: What You Need to Know. https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/news/nta-blog/nta-blog-eitc-audits-what-you-need-to-know/2023/08/
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