Hurricane Katrina: EIC and refundable child credit.

• Author: Gurene, Linda
• Position: Earned income credit

Taxpayers who claimed the earned income credit (EIC) and refundable child credit on their 2004 Federal income tax returns may be eligible to use their 2004 earned income to calculate these credits for 2005; see Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 Section 406 and JCX-69-05 (9/22/05), p. 37. To qualify:

* The taxpayer's earned income in 2005 must be less than it was in 2004.

* The taxpayer must have been living in one of the following places on Aug. 25, 2005:

1. A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-designated individual assistance area; see Exhibit 1 at right.

Exhibit 1: FEMA-Designated "Individual Assistance Areas" For purposes herein, a "FEMA-designated individual assistance area" is a county or parish in the Hurricane Katrina disaster area that FEMA designated as eligible for individual assistance; see Exhibit 3 on p. 9. This includes some counties and parishes that FEMA also designated for "public assistance," as well as three counties in Alabama designated for "individual and public assistance." Alabama The following 11 counties in Alabama are FEMA-designated individual assistance areas: Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Mobile, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa and Washington. Florida There are no FEMA-designated individual assistance areas. Louisiana The following 31 parishes in Louisiana are FEMA-designated individual assistance areas: Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Pointe Coupee, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Vermilion, Washington, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana. Mississippi The following 47 counties in Mississippi are FEMA-designated individual assistance areas: Adams, Amite, Attala, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubuee, Oktibbeha, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Walthall, Warren, Wayne, Wilkinson, Winston and Yazoo. 2. An area designated by FEMA only for "public assistance" but the taxpayer has been displaced from his or her home; see Exhibit 2 on p. 8.

Exhibit 2: Areas FEMA Has Designated Only for "Public...