Can I use my 2022 earned income info for 2023 tax breaks like EITC since I made less money?

I only made about $1,350 in 2023 before losing my job in March and collecting unemployment for the rest of the year. While doing my taxes, I noticed there's a section saying that if I made less than the previous year, I could potentially use my 2022 earned income information instead for certain tax breaks like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). I'm really confused about whether I can actually do this or if it would be a problem since I already filed my taxes for 2022 last year. Not trying to do anything sketchy, just want to maximize my refund legally! The main reason I'm asking is because my tax refund is significantly lower than what I got last year with my dependents. Last year I received around $5,200 in my return, but this time I'm only getting about $1,300. I'm wondering if that's just because I had very little earned income and was mostly on unemployment (which I know counts as unearned income). I have 2 dependents, so the big drop in my refund amount is really concerning me.

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18 comments

Dmitry Petrov

•8M

This is actually a great question! The lookup back provision for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has been available in various years to help people who experienced income drops. For your 2023 tax return (filing in 2024), you can choose to use your 2022 earned income to calculate your EITC if it results in a larger credit. This is completely legal and was specifically designed to help people like you who experienced a significant drop in income. It doesn't matter that you already filed your 2022 taxes - you're not changing those, you're just using that information for your current filing. The reason your refund is lower is exactly what you suspected - unemployment benefits count as unearned income, which doesn't qualify for the EITC calculation. With only $1,350 in earned income for 2023, your EITC would be quite small, but using your 2022 earned income might significantly increase it. When you're preparing your return, look for the option to use prior year earned income for EITC. This should be available in most tax software under the EITC section, or your tax preparer should know about this provision.

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Dmitry Petrov

•8M

This specific lookback provision applies only to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The Child Tax Credit doesn't have the same lookback option, so that would still be calculated based on your 2023 information. This won't affect how your unemployment benefits are taxed at all. Your unemployment benefits are still reported and taxed as unearned income on your 2023 return. You're simply using your 2022 earned income figure for the EITC calculation only, which is completely separate from how your unemployment is handled.

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Ava Martinez

•8M

I was in almost the exact same situation last year and used taxr.ai to figure this out. I had a mix of W-2 income and unemployment and was completely confused about the EITC lookback rules. I uploaded my documents to https://taxr.ai and they analyzed both years' info and showed me exactly how to maximize my refund using the lookback provision. They pointed out that using my previous year's earned income for EITC calculation increased my refund by over $2,000! The site walks you through everything step by step and explains which option is better for your specific situation.

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Ava Martinez

•8M

The analysis was surprisingly quick - it took about 10-15 minutes to process everything after I uploaded my documents. They use OCR technology to extract the important information, so you should definitely have time to get it done tonight. They use bank-level encryption for all document uploads and don't store your documents after analysis. I was pretty concerned about security too, but they explain their security measures on the site. They also don't need your full SSN to do the EITC analysis, just the tax documents themselves.

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Miguel Castro

•8M

Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai last night after asking about it here and it was seriously helpful! I was about to submit my return with only a $780 refund, but after using the site I realized I could use the EITC lookback provision with my 2022 income. My refund jumped to over $3,200! The analysis showed exactly how much EITC I qualified for using both years and made the choice super clear. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a similar situation with reduced income.

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Connor Byrne

•8M

If you need to actually talk to someone at the IRS about this (which I did because my situation was complicated with part-time self-employment too), good luck getting through. I spent HOURS trying to reach someone about the EITC lookback rules. Finally found Claimyr https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of the 2+ hour wait I was getting before. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c that shows how it works. The agent confirmed I could use my previous year's earned income for EITC and explained exactly how to report it correctly on my return.

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Connor Byrne

•8M

It works by essentially handling the phone system navigation and wait time for you. You sign up, and their system calls the IRS and navigates through all the prompts and waits on hold. Once they have an agent on the line, you get a call connecting you directly to that agent. It bypasses you having to sit through all the hold music and "your call is important to us" messages. I was completely skeptical too until I tried it. The reason it works is because they're not doing anything magical - they're just using technology to handle the waiting process so you don't have to. The IRS doesn't give them special access; they're just efficiently managing the standard phone system that everyone deals with.

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QuantumQuasar

•8M

I need to eat my words from my earlier comment. After getting frustrated with trying to figure out this EITC lookback thing, I broke down and tried Claimyr. Got through to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes when I had been trying for literally weeks with no success. The agent walked me through exactly how to apply the lookback provision and confirmed it would increase my refund by about $3,100. Honestly worth every penny to not spend hours on hold listening to that awful music.

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Keisha Jackson

•8M

Unemployment income does count toward eligibility for the Additional Child Tax Credit, which is good news in your case. The ACTC looks at your total income, not just earned income like the EITC does, so your unemployment benefits will help you qualify. For the Child and Dependent Care Credit, you can absolutely claim it for just part of the year. You can claim expenses you paid for childcare during the months you were working (January-March). Even though it was only a few months, every bit helps when it comes to maximizing your refund.

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