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EITC Awareness Day vision statement
EITC Awareness Day is a one-day blitz in mainstream and social media to reach the broadest possible range of potentially eligible taxpayers, including taxpayer segments we believe under claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Join us for EITC Awareness Day on Friday, Jan. 29, 2027
Join us in making the 21st annual EITC Awareness Day as successful as last year’s. EITC Awareness Day marks the kick-off of a nationwide multilingual communication effort intended to increase awareness of EITC eligibility, encourage participation, and emphasize the filing of accurate returns. The day also highlights free tax preparation and electronic filing through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)/Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites and Free File.
To help increase awareness nationwide, the IRS encourages external partners to get involved with an EITC campaign. Partners can hold EITC events, use news releases or social media to maximize taxpayer reach, and participate in other EITC activities. In 2026, over 7,000 EITC outreach initiatives and events were completed to promote the Earned Income Tax Credit. Additionally, partners sponsored 34 EITC Awareness Day live events.
With your help, we want to make Awareness Day bigger this year to increase eligibility awareness of refundable credits that many missed claiming. Along with the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), we want to include the Child Tax Credit/Additional Child Tax Credit (CTC/ACTC).
What is EITC Awareness Day?
Community organizations, elected officials, state and local governments, schools, employers, and other interested parties, partner in a national effort to increase awareness about the Earned Income Tax Credit by shining a large spotlight from various media sources. We want to generate extensive media coverage on this specific day (or days in proximity) to increase awareness among potentially eligible taxpayers at the time when most of them are filing or getting ready to file their federal income tax return. The IRS joins partners nationwide to launch EITC Awareness Day outreach campaigns to ensure millions of workers get the credit they earned and deserve.
This intensive media coverage helps us reach the broadest possible range of eligible taxpayers, including the underserved populations and newly eligible taxpayers.
Why is awareness important?
IRS estimates four out of five eligible taxpayers claim and get the EITC. Furthermore, EITC combined with the CTC/ACTC is a financial boost for working people and your local economy. EITC and the CTC/ACTC significantly reduces poverty and promotes financial stability and opportunities for working individuals and families.
Reaching out!
We need your help to capture the attention of millions of workers who miss out on the benefits of EITC and other refundable credits and motivate them to explore whether they qualify. Additionally, we want to make sure only those eligible for the credits file a claim. Finally, we want to lead taxpayers to no-cost options for tax return assistance from IRS-certified volunteers or IRS Free File.
Join us in getting the word out to those who qualify but don't file a tax return and miss the credits they deserve. Explore our Partner's Outreach Toolkit for ideas and the products you need to get the word out. Build or join a partnership and learn about promotional activities you can participate in throughout the year, see Partnership groups and activities.
Resources for you
Our partner toolkit contains:
- Social media messages, images and videos
- Facts and promotional messaging
- Refundable Tax Credits
- Marketing and education products
State participation
- States that provide earned income tax credit
- EITC participation rate by state
- Statistics for tax returns with Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Contacts
Emails: