# Earned Income Credit question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earned-income-credit-question/434961 "2008-01-25T15:33:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earned-income-credit-question/434961/1 "2008-01-25T15:33:05Z")
Quick question that wikipedia isn’t helping on. Looking at my 1040EZ, there’s a spot for Earned Income Credit. The internet tells me I qualify, but I can’t figure out if I’m supposed to use gross taxable income, or the strange number that I get after subtracting $8750 from it. HALP! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earned-income-credit-question/434961/2 "2008-01-25T16:42:46Z")
[Instructions](http://www.irs.gov/publications/p596/index.html). You need to know your earned income (1040 line 7) and AGI (1040 line 37/38, 1040A line 22). The actual amount depends on if you have 2, 1, or 0 children. ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earned-income-credit-question/434961/3 "2008-01-25T18:22:42Z")
Since you’re filling out the 1040EZ, that’s lines 1 (wages,tips,etc) and 4 (AGI). You can have the IRS figure it out for you, or use the worksheet in pages 11-14 of the [1040 EZ instructions (PDF)](http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040ez.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earned-income-credit-question/434961/4 "2008-01-26T02:27:45Z")
😕 I was hoping it was post-deduction. Oh well.