Washington Working Families Tax Credit: Claim Up to $1,330 for Tax Year 2025

Washington Working Families Tax Credit: Claim Up to $1,330 for Tax Year 2025

Washington’s Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) is a refundable state benefit for people who lived and earned income in Washington and meet rules modeled on the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). It returns part of the sales or use tax that eligible Washington residents paid. The refund is separate from, and in addition to, any federal EITC a person may receive.

The official Washington State Department of Revenue (DOR) materials currently describe the 2025 tax-year application cycle. Applications for that cycle opened on February 1, 2026, and the official deadline to apply for the 2025 credit is December 31, 2029. That is the date in this page’s deadline field. It is not an April 15 annual tax-filing deadline, and the program does not require an applicant to submit by April 15.

The program is recurring, but the amount and income thresholds are tied to the tax year. The official pages currently publish the 2025 rules. They do not publish a 2026 tax-year application cycle in the materials checked for this update, so do not assume that the 2025 amounts or thresholds will carry into a later year. For now, this guide is about the open 2025 cycle and the prior-year options shown by DOR.

Quick facts

The amount is not automatically the maximum for everyone in a category. DOR says the credit is reduced based on income, and the official eligibility page lists a $50 minimum regardless of the number of qualifying children. A person with no qualifying children may receive less than $335, while a family with three or more children may receive less than $1,330, depending on its income.

Who can qualify for the 2025 credit?

You must satisfy all of the program’s main requirements for the tax year you are claiming. For the current 2025 cycle, that means:

• You have a valid Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).
• You lived in Washington for at least 183 days in 2025. DOR describes this as more than half the year and focuses on where you physically lived and resided.
• You were at least 25 and under 65 in 2025, or you had a qualifying child in 2025.
• You filed a 2025 federal tax return.
• You were eligible to claim the federal EITC on that return, or you would meet the EITC requirements but filed with an ITIN.
• Your adjusted gross income (AGI) is below the applicable 2025 threshold for your filing status and number of qualifying children.

You do not need to be employed at the time you apply. You do need earned income for the tax year being claimed. DOR’s eligibility guidance includes wages, salaries, tips, and net self-employment earnings among the types of earned income that can matter. The fact that an applicant is no longer working in 2026 does not by itself prevent a 2025 application; the relevant question is what happened during 2025.

The credit is available to qualifying ITIN filers. A person should not reject their own application simply because they do not have an SSN. The 2025 instructions specifically allow an applicant, spouse, or child who is waiting for an ITIN to be identified on the application, although DOR says processing will wait for proof that a valid ITIN was issued.

Residency is a real requirement, not just a Washington mailing address. The applicant must have lived in Washington for at least 183 days during 2025. If a married couple files jointly, DOR says only the primary applicant must satisfy the 183-day Washington residency rule, and that resident must be listed as the primary applicant. Special military or homelessness situations have additional instructions, but they do not erase the basic residency question.

2025 income limits and possible maximum refund

The following table comes from the 2025 DOR eligibility information and application instructions. The income figures are AGI limits: the applicant’s AGI must be less than the applicable amount. The first column covers single filers, heads of household, and married people filing separately. The second covers married couples filing jointly.

These are not guaranteed payment amounts. The official page says the 2025 credit is reduced according to income, similar to the federal EITC, and that the minimum refund is $50. The table is therefore best used as an eligibility and maximum-amount guide, not as a promise that every qualifying applicant in a row receives the number in the last column.

The credit counts no more than three qualifying children. If a household has four or five children, it still reports only the number and information DOR requests for up to three; the maximum credit and income thresholds do not increase beyond three children. A child can be claimed for WFTC by only one individual or couple for the year.

What counts as a qualifying child?

Washington largely follows the federal EITC qualifying-child rules, with an important Washington accommodation for children who have an ITIN. DOR’s 2025 instructions say a qualifying child must meet the applicable relationship, age, residency, and joint-return tests.

In general, the child must be related to the applicant, must have lived with the applicant for more than half of 2025, and must not have filed a joint return of their own unless that joint return was filed only to claim a refund of tax withheld or estimated tax paid. A qualifying child may be a child, stepchild, adopted child, foster child, grandchild, sibling, stepsibling, or a descendant of one of those relatives, subject to the full program rules.

The age rules are specific. A child generally must be under 19 at the end of the tax year and younger than the applicant or the applicant’s spouse if filing jointly. A full-time student can generally qualify while under 24 at the end of the tax year if the other requirements are met. A person who is permanently and totally disabled can qualify without the normal age limit described in the instructions. Because family relationships and custody arrangements can be complicated, use DOR’s qualifying-children guidance when more than one adult could claim the same child.

How to apply

Start with the full federal return for 2025. DOR asks applicants to attach or provide a copy of the complete federal return, including Form 1040 or 1040-SR and all forms and schedules filed with it. The WFTC application also asks for figures from the federal return, including wages, salaries, and tips from line 1z and AGI from line 11a.

Gather the following before starting:

• Your complete 2025 federal tax return and all schedules.
• Your legal name, SSN or ITIN, and date of birth.
• The same information for a spouse, if applicable, and each qualifying child.
• Your Washington driver’s license or state ID number, if you have one.
• Your current residential address and mailing address.
• Your phone number and email address, if available.
• Your bank routing and account numbers if you want direct deposit.
• Supporting residency or identity documents if DOR asks for them.

Then choose one of the official filing routes:

1. Apply online through My DOR. You need a SecureAccess Washington account to access My DOR. The online application is available in English and Spanish. Review the eligibility questions, enter information that matches your federal return, list qualifying children if applicable, choose a refund method, attach the complete federal return, and submit the application.
2. Apply through participating tax-preparation software. DOR has partnered with tax software companies that allow an eligible person to file the WFTC application while filing the federal return. Check the official WFTC resources page for the current participating providers rather than assuming every tax product supports the credit.
3. Apply on paper. Download the official application from the WFTC site and mail it or hand-deliver it to a DOR field office. Paper applications are available in English and additional languages. Follow the form’s attachment instructions and include the entire federal return and all applicable schedules.

Submit only one application for a tax year. DOR warns that duplicate applications can delay processing. If you discover an error after submitting, contact DOR instead of sending a second application. The published WFTC contact number is 360-763-7300, with TTY service through 711.

Choose how to receive the refund

The 2025 application lets an eligible applicant choose direct deposit, a mailed paper check, or a prepaid debit card. Direct deposit requires an accurate routing number, account number, and account type. A paper check is mailed to the address on the application. A prepaid debit card is sent to the mailing address and is issued in the primary applicant’s name; DOR’s instructions say only one card is issued.

Check the address carefully before submitting. If the mailing address is a post office box or private mailbox, the paper instructions may require a separate current residential address. If you are experiencing homelessness or cannot provide a primary residential address, the application has an option for that situation, but DOR may request documents showing that you lived in Washington for at least 183 days.

Prior-year claims

The official WFTC site says applicants can still apply using 2024, 2023, or 2022 tax returns. Each prior year has its own eligibility rules, income thresholds, maximum credit, and final filing date. Do not use the 2025 table to estimate a prior-year refund. If you apply for more than one year, prepare a separate, complete federal return and application for each year and make sure the residency and income information belongs to that year.

The 2025 claim remains open through December 31, 2029. Applying before that final date is sensible because old tax records can be harder to find and DOR may need time to resolve a missing document or identity question. The official site also notes that processing times are currently longer than 90 days because of the number of applications received. That is a processing estimate, not a reason to submit duplicate applications.

Mistakes that can delay a refund

The most avoidable problem is entering information that does not match the federal return or the applicant’s identification records. Check every SSN or ITIN, date of birth, legal name, filing status, child’s identifying information, wage figure, and AGI figure before submitting. Use the complete federal return, not just the first page, because DOR asks for all applicable schedules.

Do not claim a child who lived with another person for more than half of the year without checking the qualifying-child rules. Do not list more than three children for the credit. Do not assume an ITIN automatically disqualifies you, and do not assume that claiming no federal EITC automatically disqualifies you: DOR says an applicant can qualify if they meet the relevant EITC requirements even when the federal credit was not claimed, subject to the application questions and full rules.

If DOR requests additional documentation, respond through the official channel and keep a copy of what you send. If you are unsure whether an application was already filed, use the WFTC “Where is My Refund?” tool or contact DOR. Sending another application to check on the first one can create the exact processing delay you are trying to avoid.

Bottom line

For tax year 2025, Washington’s Working Families Tax Credit can return between $50 and $1,330, with the maximum determined by income and the number of qualifying children. You must have filed a 2025 federal return, meet the EITC-based rules or the ITIN alternative, satisfy the Washington residency and age-or-child requirements, and remain below the applicable income threshold.

The application is available through My DOR, participating tax software, or paper forms. The final date to submit a 2025 claim is December 31, 2029. Visit the official Working Families Tax Credit site for the application, current instructions, prior-year forms, eligibility checks, refund status, and help options. The Department of Revenue’s official pages are the authority for any later cycle, changed thresholds, or updated application instructions.