New Mexico Working Families Tax Credit

The Working Families Tax Credit is New Mexico's version of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. It is a state credit worth a percentage of your federal EITC. If money is tight and you work, it is worth claiming when you file your state taxes.

It follows the federal rules. The credit uses the same qualification rules as the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. So in general, if you qualify for the federal EITC, you qualify for the New Mexico credit too.

It reaches people the federal credit leaves out. Since a 2021 law, the state credit is open to workers who file with an ITIN and have no Social Security number, who cannot get the federal EITC. It is also open to workers as young as 18, a wider age range than the federal rules for workers without children.

The credit is well used. Nearly 200,000 New Mexico families claimed the Working Families Tax Credit in 2019, even before the rules were broadened to include more people.

You claim it on your state return. You file for the credit on your New Mexico Personal Income Tax return, Form PIT-1. Individual credits like this one are claimed using Form PIT-RC, the Rebate and Credit Schedule, filed with the PIT-1.

So do not skip filing. Even if your income is low enough that you think you do not have to file, filing a state return is how you claim this credit. If you also have a qualifying child, ask about the separate New Mexico Child Tax Credit at the same time.