Article Highlights: Purpose of the Earned Income Tax Credit Qualifications Earned Income Qualified Child Credit Phaseout Computing the Credit Investment Income Limit Combat Pay Election Fraud Safeguards Any discussion of the earned income tax credit (EITC) needs to begin with a discussion of why Congress created it in the first place. It has a twofold purpose: first, as an incentive for people to work and get off public assistance, and second, to provide financial assistance for low-income taxpayers and their…

If you have unpaid taxes that you haven’t yet been making payments toward, it might make you fearful that the IRS will come a-knocking one day to collect on what you owe. Tax debt can quickly snowball from interest, penalties, late fees, and the amount of the taxes due. However, a lot of the scaremongering surrounding the IRS is largely sensationalized in media and daily conversation. Agents won’t come bursting through your door just because you have tax debt. Instead,…