What is Form 8862? Where can I find it?

In some cases, you may not be allowed to claim certain tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, if you disregarded the IRS rules when claiming them in the past. Once the penalty expires, you’ll need to file Form 8862 along with your IRS tax return in order to reclaim these credits.

You can find tax form 8862 on the IRS website. If you file your taxes online, your online tax software will fill it out for you when you indicate you were previously disallowed to claim this tax credit.

Depending on why you were previously barred from filing the credit, the timeframe for reclaiming it will vary. If the IRS determined you committed fraud on your tax return, you cannot claim the credit and file form 8862 for ten years after the incident.

You do not have to file form 8862 if you already filed it in a previous year to reclaim a tax credit you were previously barred from claiming. You also do not have to file it if you’re claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit without a qualifying child and you were previously barred from claiming this because the child you claimed did not meet the IRS’s definition of a qualifying dependent.

The credits you can reclaim with this form include the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, credit for other dependents, American Opportunity Tax Credit, and qualifying child of more than one person. Most filers do not need to complete all sections of this form, but only the part 1 and the parts that pertain to the credits they wish to claim.