Credits

People who claim the credit, based on having one or more qualifying children, each child must meet the relationship test, age test, residency test and joint return test. Each child must meet all four tests.
Relationship test. The child is the taxpayer’s: •Son or daughter, including an adopted child or child placed for adoption •Stepchild or grandchild •Foster child placed by an authorized placement agency or court •Brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, or •A descendant of any of them
Age test. At the end of 2016, the child was: •Younger than the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse if filing a joint return and younger than 19 •Younger than the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse if filing a joint return and younger than 24 and a full-time student, or •Any age if permanently and totally disabled
Residency test. The child lived with the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse if filing a joint return in the U.S. for more than half of 2016.
Joint Return test. A qualifying child who files a joint return can only do so to claim a refund with neither the child nor child’s spouse being required to file.
More than one person cannot claim the same qualifying child to claim EITC. If a child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, only one person can use that child to claim the EITC. Also, if the child qualifies for both a parent and another person, the other person can only get the credit by having a higher AGI than the parent.

!---earned---> The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable federal income tax credit for low to moderate income working individuals and families.
Individuals may receive refunds more than what was withheld in federal withholding taxes from their wages.
For the 2016 Tax Year
Earned Income and adjusted gross income (AGI) must each be less than:
$47,955 ($53,505 married filing jointly) with three or more qualifying children $44,648 ($50,198 married filing jointly) with two qualifying children $39,296 ($44,846 married filing jointly) with one qualifying child $14,880 ($20,430 married filing jointly) with no qualifying children
Tax Year 2016 maximum credit: $6,269 with three or more qualifying children $5,572 with two qualifying children $3,373 with one qualifying child $506 with no qualifying children
Investment income must be $3,400 or less for the year.

Taxpayers can find more information on claiming EITC on irs.gov/eitc. The EITC Assistant available on irs.gov/eitc or the Instructions for Form 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ can help individuals determine their eligibility.
The instructions contain a worksheet and the earned income credit table to help determine the amount of the credit.

Taxpayers without a qualifying child must meet three additional tests.
Lived in the U.S. for more than half of 2016, at the end of 2016, was at least age 25, but under age 65, cannot qualify as the dependent of another person.

40% of the American Opportunity Credit may be refundable and the balance is nonrefundable. None of the Lifetime Learning credit is refundable.

The student must be enrolled at least half time for atleast one academic period beginning during the year. The tution statement, Form 1098-T will have a checkbox checked if the sudent met the half of time requirement.

Payments made in 2016 for academic periods beginning in 2016 or beginning in the first 3 months of 2017 qualify for the 2016 credit.

An academic period is any quarter, semester, trimester or any other period of study as resonable determined by an eligible educational institution.

If a student is claimed as a dependent on another person's tax return, all qualifying educational expenses of the student are treated as having been paid by that person.
if a student is not claimed as a dependent on another person's tax return, only the student can claim the credit.