If I'm on disability, do I qualify for the Earned Income Credit (EIC)?

Social Security benefits, including disability payments, aren't considered earned income for Earned Income Credit (EIC) purposes. However, other disability payments might qualify depending on both of these:

• The type of disability payments you're receiving
• If you've reached your employer-plan's minimum retirement age

If you retired on disability, taxable benefits from your employer's disability retirement plan are earned income. This applies until you reach minimum retirement age. So, you can count that income for EIC purposes.

Your plan defines the minimum retirement age. Starting the day after you reach minimum retirement age, those disability retirement payments are taxed as pension payments. So, they'll no longer be earned income for EIC purposes. At that point, you must have some other source of earned income to be eligible for EIC.

If you receive payments from a disability insurance policy that you paid premiums for, those payments aren't earned income for EIC purposes. This applies whether or not you've reached the minimum retirement age.