State and local EITC

Don’t overlook the state credit!

If your clients qualify to claim EITC on their federal income tax return, they may also be eligible for a similar credit on their state or local income tax return. Twenty-five states, the District of Columbia and New York City offer their residents an earned income tax credit.

Find a list of states and local governments that have EITC programs. Questions about eligibility or how to claim EITC on a state or local return should be directed to your state/local tax authorities.

Fed/State activities

The IRS, states and local taxing authorities, and community organizations work together to increase awareness of, and participation in, both federal and local EITC. This is done through a combination of the annual EITC Awareness Day, publicity throughout the year, and through web sites of scores of organizations. Specific objectives of IRS activity with states are to:

• Partner with all states to improve EITC participation, whether the states offer EITC or not.
• Partner with states that offer a state EITC to develop joint EITC marketing and outreach campaigns and to support volunteer return preparation.
• Promote the use of joint Fed/State EITC products, and the EITC Marketing Express, for consistent messaging and joint promotions.
• Promote joint Fed/State campaign messages, using the “Life's a little easier with EITC” key messages to increase strength of messaging.

The following are some private sites that provide state-related EITC information

• National Center for Children in Poverty
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
  • Tax credits for individuals and families
  • Chart Book: The Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit

Related

List of states that provide earned income tax credit

Statistics for tax returns with the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

EITC participation rate by state

Partner toolkit