IRS Form 15111: Answering a CP09 Earned Income Credit Notice

What is IRS Form 15111?

Form 15111 is the Earned Income Credit (EIC) Worksheet that the IRS includes with Notice CP09. CP09 is sent when IRS records show a taxpayer may be eligible for the earned income credit but did not claim it. The worksheet walks through the main eligibility tests and, when signed, serves as the response to the notice.

The IRS page Understanding your CP09 notice describes the notice in one sentence: the recipient may be eligible for the Earned Income Credit but did not claim it on the tax return. The page then points to Form 15111 as the worksheet to complete, with one version for tax year 2025 and another for tax year 2024.

The current Form 15111 is dated February 2026 and is two pages long. It opens with contact information, including names, Social Security numbers, a current address if it has changed, and phone numbers with the best time to call. It then moves through three numbered steps that screen for common reasons the credit does not apply, collect information about dependents, and explain what the answers mean.

The earned income credit itself is a refundable credit for people who work and have low to moderate earned income. Tax Topic 601 explains that because it is refundable, it can produce a refund even when no tax is owed. That is why a missed claim can matter even for someone whose return showed no balance due.

What is the difference between CP09 and CP27?

Both notices say the IRS thinks a taxpayer may be eligible for the earned income credit but did not claim it. CP09 comes with Form 15111, which includes a section for dependents listed on the return. CP27 comes with Form 15112, a shorter worksheet with no dependent section, and the IRS describes CP27 in terms of people without dependent children.

The CP27 page uses nearly the same opening as the CP09 page: IRS records indicate the recipient may be eligible for the credit but did not claim it. Its FAQ adds that people without dependent children may qualify for a refund even if they do not owe any tax. The worksheets reflect that split.

Because the forms differ, the notice number matters. It is printed in the top right corner of the letter. Completing Form 15112 in response to a CP09, or Form 15111 in response to a CP27, would answer the wrong set of questions.

What does Step 1 of the worksheet screen out?

Step 1 lists situations in which the credit is not available. On the February 2026 Form 15111 they cover living in the United States six months or less, a Social Security card marked Not Valid for Employment, and being an EITC qualifying child of another person. The form says that if any box is checked, the filer stops there.

The first step is a set of checkboxes, and it applies to both spouses when the original return was a joint return. Each statement mirrors a basic rule for the credit that the IRS explains on its page about who qualifies for the EITC.

• Residency: the statement covers living in the United States for six months or less during the year. Both forms treat members of the U.S. military stationed outside the country on extended active duty as living in the United States for that period.
• Social Security card: the statement covers a card that reads Not Valid for Employment and was issued to receive a federally funded benefit, such as Medicaid. The IRS says a number issued only for that purpose is not valid for the credit.
• Qualifying child of another person: the statement covers someone who is a relative of another person, meets the age test, lived with that person in the United States for more than six months, and did not file a joint return.

Form 15112 adds a fourth statement for CP27 filers: being claimable as a dependent by another person while not filing a joint return. Its qualifying child statement is also narrower, because it is aimed at people who are permanently and totally disabled. That fits the credit for filers without a qualifying child, which has its own age range.

Both forms close Step 1 with the same instruction. If any box is checked, the form says the filer does not qualify for the credit and does not need to respond. If none is checked, the worksheet continues. The checkboxes are a screen, not a final decision, and the IRS still reviews any worksheet that is returned.

How does the dependent section of Form 15111 work?

Step 2 of Form 15111 collects up to three children who were listed as dependents on the original return. For each it asks for the name, Social Security number, and whether the child lived with the filer in the United States over six months. A child not listed on the original return is handled through Form 1040-X instead.

Step 2 begins with a fork that is easy to miss. The form says that when the child being considered for the credit was not listed as a dependent on the original Form 1040, the worksheet is not the right tool, and an amended return on Form 1040-X is the route instead. The worksheet is only for children who already appeared on the return as dependents.

For those children, the form restates the core of the qualifying child rules. The child must be a son, daughter, stepchild, grandchild, or eligible foster child, or a brother, sister, half-sibling, or stepsibling, or a descendant of one of them. The child must be under 19 at the end of the year and younger than the filer or spouse, or under 24, a student, and younger, or permanently and totally disabled at any age. The child must not have filed a joint return, except one filed only to get back withheld or estimated tax.

The IRS page on qualifying child rules explains the details behind column 3. It counts temporary absences for school, illness, vacation, business, military service, or detention in a juvenile facility as time lived at home, and it treats a child born or who died during the year as meeting the test if the home was the child's home for more than half the time the child was alive.

Step 3 then reads the answers back. A dependent with a No in column 3 does not meet the requirements, and a dependent with a Yes does. When at least one dependent meets them, the form says the filer may be eligible, and it reminds the reader that a child can be claimed by only one person, with Publication 596 setting out the rules for deciding who that is.

What if no dependent meets the requirements?

Form 15111 says the filer may still be eligible for the credit without a qualifying child if three conditions hold: the filer or spouse is 25 to 64, the filer cannot be claimed as a dependent or EIC qualifying child of another taxpayer, and the filer lived in the United States for more than half the year.

The second branch of Step 3 covers people whose dependents do not pass the residency question. Rather than ending the worksheet, the form describes the credit without a qualifying child, sometimes called the self-only credit. The IRS page on who qualifies sets out the same three conditions and adds that, on a joint return, at least one spouse must meet the age rule.

The amount for a filer without a qualifying child is much smaller than for a filer with one. The IRS EITC tables page lists the maximum credit and income limits by year, which helps explain why a CP27 and a CP09 can involve very different sums.

The same page sets the investment income limit at $11,950 for 2025 and $11,600 for 2024. These figures are general limits from the IRS, not an estimate for any particular household. The actual amount depends on earned income, filing status, and the number of qualifying children, and the CP27 page says the IRS reviews a returned worksheet and makes a determination.

Which worksheet version matches the tax year on the notice?

The IRS links a separate worksheet for each tax year. For CP09, tax year 2025 uses the February 2026 revision of Form 15111 and tax year 2024 uses the March 2025 revision. CP27 follows the same pattern with Form 15112. Each revision names its own year in the questions, so the version should match the year printed on the notice.

Both CP pages list two links, one for each tax year currently being worked. The questions are largely the same, but the years written into them differ. The March 2025 Form 15111 asks about living in the United States and filing a joint return for 2024, while the February 2026 revision asks the same questions about 2025.

Older copies circulate widely, which is part of why search results can be confusing. The IRS still hosts a sample CP09 notice dated July 2019 for tax year 2018, and its worksheet has four steps and a statement about earned and investment income that the current forms do not include. A walkthrough based on that sample will not line up with the February 2026 form.

The simplest check is the year in the notice heading. In most cases the worksheet enclosed with the notice already matches it, and the online versions are mainly useful when the enclosed copy has been lost or damaged.

How is Form 15111 or Form 15112 sent back to the IRS?

The CP09 page says a signed Form 15111 can be mailed in the envelope provided or uploaded through the Document Upload Tool within 30 days of the notice date, using its access code. The CP27 page describes mailing the signed Form 15112 in the envelope provided, or to the address in the top left corner of the worksheet.

The February 2026 Form 15111 itself says the form can be uploaded electronically with the Document Upload Tool or mailed in the enclosed envelope, and refers back to the CP09 notice for the upload details. The CP09 page adds the 30 day window and says the access code from the notice is needed to use the tool.

The Document Upload Tool asks whether the notice has an access code, which it describes as a 10 digit alphanumeric code. It says the code can be found on the notice, near a QR code or the address IRS.gov/dutreply. The tool then asks for the notice number from the top right corner and suggests including a copy or photo of the notice with the upload.

• The tool says it is only for responding to a notice or letter the IRS actually sent.
• It cannot be used to file a tax return, and it says doing so delays processing.
• It does not accept payments.
• Selecting the wrong notice number can delay the response, according to the tool.

For CP27, the IRS page answers a common question about a lost return envelope: the completed worksheet goes to the address in the top left corner of the worksheet, because that office handles cases for the region. Both forms also give a phone number, 800-829-0922, for reporting an address change. Keeping a copy of the signed worksheet and a note of the date it was sent makes later follow-up much easier.

What happens after the worksheet is sent?

The IRS reviews the worksheet and makes a determination. The CP09 and CP27 pages say that if the credit is allowed, a refund check is mailed in 6 to 8 weeks as long as no tax or other debts the IRS must collect are owed. If the credit is denied, the IRS sends a letter of explanation.

Both IRS pages give the same follow-up instruction: if nothing arrives after 8 weeks, the toll-free line at 800-829-0922 can be used to check the status. The refund in this situation is described as a check, which differs from the direct deposit many people choose when they file a return.

Other debts can change the result. The IRS refunds page explains that a refund may be reduced to pay prior federal taxes or other past due debts such as child support, state income tax, or certain federal agency debts, and that the Bureau of the Fiscal Service mails a separate notice about that kind of offset. When the debt belongs to only one spouse on a joint return, the Tax Panic guide to injured spouse relief explains how that process works in general.

If a refund check is lost, stolen, or never arrives, the refunds page describes a refund trace. The Tax Panic guide to IRS Form 3911 explains the form used to request one and the timing the IRS describes.

What if the worksheet shows the credit does not apply?

The IRS pages say not to return the worksheet when it shows the filer is not eligible. Form 15111 and Form 15112 both say that if any Step 1 box is checked, the filer does not need to respond. A CP09 or CP27 does not demand a reply the way a balance due notice or an audit letter does.

The CP09 page puts it plainly: when the filer is not eligible, the Form 15111 should not be returned. The CP27 page says the same about Form 15112. Returning a worksheet that shows ineligibility would only add a document for the IRS to process.

The notice is still worth keeping. A CP09 or CP27 is a record of what the IRS saw on the return for that year, and the reasoning behind not responding can be useful later, for example if a similar notice arrives for another year or a tax preparer asks about it. The Tax Panic guide on what happens if you ignore an IRS letter explains why that question has very different answers depending on the notice.

Two situations deserve a closer look before setting the worksheet aside. The first is a qualifying child who was left off the original return entirely, which the form routes to an amended return rather than the worksheet. The second is a Social Security card that once read Not Valid for Employment but whose holder has since become a citizen or permanent resident. The IRS page on who qualifies says the Social Security Administration can issue a card without that legend, though the credit rules still look at whether a valid number was issued by the return due date.

How is a CP09 different from an EITC audit or Form 8862?

A CP09 or CP27 says the IRS thinks a credit may have been missed. An EITC audit notice such as CP75 says the IRS is examining a claimed credit and asks for documents. Form 8862 is filed with a later return after a claimed credit was reduced or disallowed for a reason other than a math or clerical error.

These letters are easy to confuse because they all involve the same credit. The direction is what differs. CP09 and CP27 move toward a possible additional refund. An audit moves toward proving a credit already claimed, and a disallowance can carry consequences into later years.

The CP75 page says the IRS is holding the EIC and certain other parts of the refund until the audit is complete, and it lists upload, fax, and mail options for documents. The CP75 guide explains that notice in plain language, and the CP12 guide covers the math error correction notice.

The IRS page on what to do if a credit claim is denied describes repayment, Form 8862, and in some cases bans of two or ten years. The Tax Panic guide to IRS Form 8862 explains when that form applies. None of that is triggered by receiving a CP09 or CP27.

How can a missed earned income credit be avoided next year?

The CP09 and CP27 pages suggest claiming the credit on the next return if still eligible. They describe writing EIC on the credit line to ask the IRS to figure it, with Schedule EIC attached when a qualifying child is involved, or writing No when the credit is not wanted or does not apply. The EITC Assistant checks eligibility beforehand.

Both worksheets carry the same reminder: before filing the next return, use the EITC Assistant to see whether the credit may apply. The IRS page on the EITC Assistant says it estimates eligibility, qualifying children, filing status, and the approximate credit, and that it does not ask for a name, Social Security number, address, or bank account number and does not save what is entered.

The IRS page on how to claim the EITC says the credit is claimed on Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR even when filing is not otherwise required, with Schedule EIC attached for a qualifying child. It also says that by law the IRS cannot issue EITC refunds before mid-February, so a return claiming the credit is usually paid later than one that does not.

Earlier years are not necessarily closed. The same page says there are three years from the return due date to file and claim a refund, and that someone who filed but did not claim the credit while eligible can file an amended return. The Form 1040-X page says amended returns can now be filed electronically with tax software for the current and two prior tax periods.

Where can people get help with a CP09 or CP27?

The IRS pages for CP09 and CP27 point to Publication 596, the EITC Assistant, the Taxpayer Advocate Service, and Low Income Taxpayer Clinics. The IRS also lists free return preparation by IRS-certified volunteers. A tax professional can be authorized to deal with the IRS on a taxpayer's behalf through a power of attorney.

Publication 596 is the full IRS guide to the earned income credit, with worksheets and examples for the tests the CP09 and CP27 forms summarize. The Taxpayer Advocate Service page lists help with IRS problems, including missing refunds, refund offsets, IRS notices, and questions about the Earned Income Tax Credit. Low Income Taxpayer Clinics represent eligible taxpayers for free or a small fee, generally where income is below a threshold and the amount in dispute is usually under $50,000.

The Tax Panic guide to IRS power of attorney explains how a representative is authorized. Letters that promise money also attract imitation. The IRS pages for CP09 and CP27 describe only a signed worksheet, mailed or uploaded through IRS channels, and say nothing about paying anything to receive the credit. The guide to fake IRS letters covers common scam signs and how to check a notice through official channels.

Tax Panic explains supported IRS notices in plain language, including their general purpose and common response paths. The Android app is free to start in the Google Play Store and can help tell a CP09 from a CP27, a CP75, or a CP12, and keep track of the dates printed on the letter. It does not complete or submit worksheets, contact the IRS, or decide whether anyone is eligible for a credit.