Form IT-215: Claim for Earned Income Credit (New York State) for Tax Year 2025

Form IT-215, Claim for Earned Income Credit, is the document New York State uses to let eligible workers claim the state’s version of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). If you already qualified for the federal EITC on your IRS return, there’s a good chance you can pick up an additional credit from New York State just by attaching this form to your state income tax return.

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance issues this form each year, and the version dated for Tax Year 2025 reflects the current income thresholds and credit percentages. Unlike some older paper-only forms, IT-215 comes as a fillable AcroForm PDF, so you can type your figures directly into the document on your computer before printing or attaching it to an e-filed return.

Who Needs Form IT-215

You need this form if you’re a New York State resident, part-year resident, or nonresident who claimed the federal Earned Income Credit on your federal Form 1040. New York calculates its own credit as a percentage of your federal EITC, so the two are directly linked. If the IRS denied or reduced your federal EITC for the year, that generally affects your New York credit too, and the form has specific lines to address those situations.

Households with qualifying children typically see the largest credit amounts, but workers without children can also qualify under both the federal and state rules, provided they meet the income and filing status requirements. Since the credit is refundable, it’s worth checking even if you don’t owe any state tax — you could still get money back.

When You Use It

Form IT-215 is filed along with your annual New York State income tax return, typically due around the same deadline as your federal return. You cannot submit it on its own; it works as a supporting schedule attached to Form IT-201 (for residents) or IT-203 (for nonresidents and part-year residents). If you’re also dealing with other state credits or schedules that tax year, like the depreciation adjustments covered in Form IT-211, you’ll want to make sure all your attachments are consistent with the figures reported on your main return.

Some taxpayers also file an amended return later to claim the credit if they missed it the first time around. New York generally allows you to go back and claim refunds within the statute of limitations, so if you realize after filing that you qualified but didn’t attach IT-215, it’s not necessarily too late to fix.

How to Get and Fill Out the Form

You can download the current fillable PDF directly from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance website. Because it’s built as an AcroForm, most PDF readers will let you click into each field and type your numbers rather than printing a blank copy and filling it out by hand. That said, double-check your entries against the printed instructions the department publishes alongside the form, since the credit calculation involves pulling specific numbers from your federal return and applying New York’s percentage.

The form asks for your federal EITC amount, your filing status, information about qualifying children if applicable, and in some cases separate calculations depending on whether you’re a full-year resident or filing a part-year/nonresident return. Once completed, the credit amount flows into your main state tax form, reducing what you owe or increasing your refund.

If you’re also claiming business-related credits in the same filing year, it’s worth reviewing how those interact with your personal income calculations — for instance, taxpayers using Form IT-212 for the Investment Credit should keep their supporting worksheets organized separately from the EITC claim, since each credit has its own eligibility rules and documentation requirements.

Keep a copy of your completed IT-215 along with your federal return documentation in case the state requests verification. Errors on this form are a common reason for processing delays, so it pays to review your entries against your federal EITC worksheet before submitting.