The IRS can give people tax credits that they can get back even if they don’t have to file a tax return because they don’t make enough money. In the United States, this means that thousands of people and millions of dollars have not been claimed. Some people don’t know they are eligible or that they can file a tax return for 2024, even if they never have to.
Tax relief payments are often missed, but not as often as people think. Because of this, the IRS keeps telling people that they might be owed a tax return. If you don’t know how to check if you are qualified, the Internal Revenue Service has some easy steps you can take to find out what tax credit you may be able to get.
How long will the IRS allow you to claim a refund?
Most of the time, you have three years to get your tax return. However, you can only get it if you file for it and are eligible for it. You can get a tax refund if you paid more in taxes than you owe the IRS, or if you qualify for a refundable tax credit.
For your knowledge, most people who live or work in the United States and are citizens or permanent residents will have to file a tax return. If you need to file a return, there are a few things you should look at.
- The first thing is that your pay is higher than what is needed to file.
- Second, your net income is more than $400 and you work for yourself (it could be freelance work or side jobs).
- Third, you had other reasons why you had to file.
Refundable tax credits from the IRS
Find out what refundable tax credits are available in the US. This is the best way to find out if you can still get a tax refund in 2025 if you haven’t filed yet.
The EITC is the most popular tax credit that can be paid back. The Earned Income Tax Credit is what that means. To get the EITC, you must have less than $11,600 in investments and earn less than $18,591 if you are single and don’t have any kids, or $66,819 if you are married and have three or more children and choose to file jointly.
Besides the EITC, here is a list of other tax payments that can be refunded:
- Child Tax Credit (some of it is refunded)
- American Opportunity Tax Credit (some of it is refunded)
- Tax Credit for Premiums
- Tax Credit for Fuel
If your child qualifies for the Child Tax Credit in 2025, you could get up to $2,000 for each child. In 2024, they had to be younger than 17 and have a Social Security number. You also have to list them as a dependent on your tax return. For 2024, you can get some of your CTC back. The AEC is the name of this tax credit, and each child can get up to $1,700 of it.
