The Tax Credits You Might Be Missing

The American tax code is, among other things, a quiet engine for distributing money to working households — provided those households know to ask for it. Every year, by the IRS's own estimates, roughly a fifth of eligible workers do not claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, leaving billions of dollars unpaid. The pattern is similar for several other credits. A short tour, for the household that does not itemize and does not pay a preparer.

The Earned Income Tax Credit is the largest of the credits most people miss. It is for working households with low to moderate income. In 2026, the maximum credit for a family with three or more qualifying children is just over seven thousand dollars; a worker with no children can still receive several hundred. The eligibility cutoff is higher than people expect — a household of four can earn up to roughly sixty-six thousand dollars and still qualify. The credit is refundable, meaning you receive the full amount even if you owe no tax.

The Saver's Credit is the most overlooked, possibly because the name is bland. It is a credit of up to a thousand dollars (two thousand for joint filers) for contributing to a retirement account — a 401(k), an IRA, a Roth IRA — if your income falls below the threshold. In 2026, a single filer earning under about thirty-eight thousand dollars qualifies for some portion of it. The contribution itself can be small. The credit is meaningful.

The Child Tax Credit, in its 2026 form, is up to two thousand dollars per qualifying child under seventeen, with up to seventeen hundred of it refundable. Most parents claim this automatically. Worth checking, if you have a child who turned seventeen this year, that the credit was applied correctly in any year they were still sixteen.

Education credits — the American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit — cover college tuition and certain career-training programs. The American Opportunity Credit is worth up to twenty-five hundred dollars per student, per year, for the first four years of undergraduate study. The Lifetime Learning Credit, smaller but more flexible, applies to any post-secondary coursework, including part-time and continuing education.

The filing itself does not have to cost money. IRS Free File is available to anyone with an adjusted gross income under roughly eighty thousand dollars and walks you through every credit you are eligible for. The VITA program — Volunteer Income Tax Assistance — provides free, in-person tax preparation by IRS-trained volunteers for households earning under about sixty-five thousand dollars. Locations are listed on irs.gov.