IRS reaches out on Earned Income Tax Credit

The IRS is trying to make sure that everyone eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit is actually claiming the tax break for working families.

John Koskinen, the IRS commissioner, said Friday that millions of taxpayers earning less than $52,000 a year — one out of five every five eligible — isn’t taking advantage of the EITC.

{mosads}“It’s an important credit and one of the government’s best tools to fight poverty,” Koskinen said of the EITC, which has its 40th anniversary this year.

Roughly 28 million taxpayers claimed the tax credit in 2014, receiving an average tax break of $2,400. Those who aren’t claiming the credit could be missing out on a tax break as much as $6,000, the IRS says. The EITC is also a refundable tax break, meaning taxpayers could get money back from the government if they claim the credit.

President Obama and other top Democrats have proposed expanding the EITC, and Republicans like House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) have floated similar ideas. GOP lawmakers have said they also want to tamp down fraud within the program.