United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-12-14 monographic deposited born digital 8 p. GA 1.13:GAO-02-290R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-290R P0b002ee18039eece f:d02290r DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-290R machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-290R GAO-02-290R Income taxes Tax credit Disadvantaged persons Taxpayers Statistical data Children Income statistics Tax returns Eligibility criteria Eligibility determinations Census Bureau Current Population Survey Earned Income Tax Credit Social Security Program Correspondence A02586 The Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC), which is expected to provide more than $20 billion in refundable tax credits in fiscal year 2002, is intended to offset the burden of the Social Security payroll tax on low-income workers and encourage low-income individuals to work. About 75 percent of the 17.2 million eligible households have claimed the credit. GAO found that the participation rate varied by the number of qualifying children in the household. Participation rates for households with one or two qualifying children were 96 percent and 93 percent respectively. In contrast, participation rates for households with three or more qualifying children was 62.5 percent. The participation rate for households with no qualifying children was 44.7 percent. Qualifying households were eligible to claim $22.3 billion in EICs in 1999. The Internal Revenue Service estimates that participating households actually claimed $20.9 billion that year. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-290R/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-290R.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-290R/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-290R.pdf GAO-02-290R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-290R Correspondence GAO-02-290R; Earned Income Tax Credit Eligibility and Participation; Income taxes Tax credit Disadvantaged persons Taxpayers Statistical data Children Income statistics Tax returns Eligibility criteria Eligibility determinations Census Bureau Current Population Survey Earned Income Tax Credit Social Security Program