Click to Watch! to see if you can claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Times are tough right now.  So how would you like to keep more of the money you earn in your own wallet?  The EITC can help you do just that.

The EITC is a dollar-for-dollar credit that was intended to help individuals and families who earn less than $41,646 keep more of their hard-earned income. For the 2008 tax year, that can mean anywhere from $438 for an individual without children to as much as $4,824 for an individual or family with two or more children.

You can opt to have the EITC distributed to you in your paychecks throughout the year, or get it as a refund at the end of the year. You can even get it if you don’t owe taxes or if you didn’t earn enough to be required to file a tax return. But if you want to get the EITC, you DO have to file.

Never heard of the EITC? Don’t feel bad! Hundreds of millions of EITC dollars go unclaimed every year.  That is why GCFLearnFree.org  wants to help you find out if you are eligible.

So how do you know if you qualify?  There are a lot of rules; but the IRS has the EITC Assistant to help you determine if you are eligible.  However, as with most things IRS, this tool isn’t easy to find…and it is overrun with technical tax terms, so we thought we should show you the ropes.