No Child Earned Income Credit

If you do not have a qualifying child to claim the child earned income tax credit on, then you can still claim the earned income credit if you meet the following rules for earned income credit with no qualifying child.

1) you must be 25 or more but under 65

You must be at least age 25 but under age 65 at the end of the tax year. However, if you are married filing a joint return, either you or your spouse must meet the age test.  It does not matter which spouse meets the test as long as one of you does.

2) you cannot be the dependent of another person

You (or your spouse if married filing jointly) cannot be the dependent of another person.

You are the dependent of another person if you cannot claim an exemption for yourself or your spouse on your tax return. If you (or your spouse) can be claimed as a dependent on another person's tax return, you cannot claim the earned income tax credit even if the other person does not claim your exemption.

3) You cannot be a qualifying child of another person

You (or your spouse if married filing a joint return) cannot be a qualifying child of another person.

This is true even if the person for whom you are a qualifying child does not claim the earned income credit or meet all of the rules to claim the earned income credit.

4) your residency

You must have lived in the US for more than half the year to be able to claim the earned income credit.