How to Fill Out FTB Form 3514: California Earned Income Tax Credit

To fill out FTB Form 3514, work through its nine parts in order: confirm eligibility and enter your federal numbers in Parts I and II, list each qualifying child in Part III, calculate your California earned income in Part IV, look up your California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) in Part V, adjust for part-year residency in Part VI if it applies, then move to Part VII for the Young Child Tax Credit, Part VIII for its part-year adjustment, and Part IX for the Foster Youth Tax Credit. The form attaches to your Form 540 or 540NR and produces up to three refundable credits you can receive even if you owe no California tax.¹

Confirm You Qualify Before You Start

CalEITC is the gate. You cannot claim the Young Child Tax Credit or Foster Youth Tax Credit without first qualifying for CalEITC.² For tax year 2025, you qualify for CalEITC if all of the following are true:

You have earned income (wages subject to California withholding or net self-employment income) of at least $1 and no more than $32,900.¹
Your investment income for the year is $11,950 or less.
You lived in California more than half the year.
You are at least 18 at year-end, or you have a qualifying child.³
You, your spouse or registered domestic partner, and every qualifying child have a valid Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).⁴

California accepts ITINs for CalEITC and the Young Child Tax Credit, so filers without a work-authorized Social Security Number can still claim both. Keep your ITIN assignment letter available; the FTB may request it for verification.²

What to Have in Front of You

Pull these together before opening the form:

Your completed federal return (Form 1040 or 1040-SR). You will copy your federal adjusted gross income from line 11 and your federal EIC from line 27a onto Form 3514.
Every W-2 showing California wages and withholding.
Any 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC for contract or non-employee work.
SSNs or ITINs and dates of birth for yourself, your spouse, and each qualifying child.
Each child’s California address and the number of days they lived with you in the state during the year.
For self-employed filers: bank statements, invoices, receipts, and mileage logs supporting the income and expenses on your federal Schedule C. The IRS and FTB both scrutinize self-employment income used for EITC calculations, and audits often start there.⁵

Working Through the Form, Part by Part

The 2025 version of Form 3514 has nine parts. Skip the ones that don’t apply to you rather than forcing an entry.⁶

Part I: Qualifying Information

Answer whether the IRS or FTB has previously disallowed your earned income credit. If so, and the issue is unresolved, you may need to attach Form 8862 or its California equivalent. Then enter your federal adjusted gross income and federal EIC amount, pulled directly from your Form 1040 or 1040-SR.

Part II: Investment Income

Enter total investment income on line 4. This includes taxable interest, dividends, capital gains, and royalties. If the figure exceeds $11,950 for tax year 2025, stop. You do not qualify for CalEITC, and the rest of the form is moot.

Part III: Qualifying Child Information

For each qualifying child, enter full name, SSN or ITIN, date of birth, relationship to you, days lived with you in California during the year, and the child’s physical address. A qualifying child must be under 19 at year-end, under 24 if a full-time student, or permanently and totally disabled at any point in the year. The form has space for three children; attach additional sheets if you have more.

Part IV: California Earned Income

This is where you build the income figure the credit calculation runs on.

Line 13: total wages subject to California withholding.
Line 14: subtract In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) payments you excluded from income.
Line 15: subtract prison inmate wages or certain nonqualified deferred compensation.
Line 17: add nontaxable combat pay you choose to include.
Line 18: add net self-employment income.
Line 19: the result is your California earned income.

Part V: California EITC

Take the earned income figure from line 19 and look it up in the California Earned Income Tax Credit Worksheet in the Form 3514 instruction booklet. The worksheet cross-references your earned income with your number of qualifying children and gives you the credit amount for line 20. Maximum credits for tax year 2025 range from $302 with no qualifying children up to $3,756 with three or more.¹

Part VI: Part-Year Resident Adjustment

Only for filers using Form 540NR. Multiply your CalEITC by the exemption credit percentage from Form 540NR, line 38, to prorate the credit to your California residency period. Full-year residents skip this part.

Part VII: Young Child Tax Credit

If you qualify for CalEITC and have at least one child younger than six at year-end, calculate the YCTC here. The maximum is $1,189 per return for tax year 2025.⁷ The credit begins to phase down once earned income exceeds $27,425, reducing by roughly $21.71 for every $100 over the threshold until it reaches zero.

Part VIII: Part-Year Resident YCTC Adjustment

The same proration concept as Part VI, applied to the YCTC. Full-year residents skip it.

Part IX: Foster Youth Tax Credit

Complete this section if you were in California foster care at age 13 or older and are between 18 and 25 at year-end. The credit is worth up to $1,189 per eligible person for 2025, or up to $2,378 if you and your spouse both qualify.⁸ Line 33 includes a consent box authorizing the California Department of Social Services to verify your status through a statewide database. If you prefer, attach a foster youth verification letter instead. If you provide neither, the FTB will send a letter asking for proof before releasing the credit.

Attaching and Filing the Form

Form 3514 is not filed on its own. Attach it to your California Form 540 if you are a full-year resident, or Form 540NR if you are a part-year resident or nonresident with qualifying California income, and send them together. The deadline for tax year 2025 is April 15, 2026. California grants an automatic extension to October 15, 2026 to file, but any tax owed is still due by April 15.⁹

E-filing is faster. The FTB’s free CalFile system handles Form 3514, though it will not accept returns with federal Schedule C business or farming income unless you meet a specific EITC exception listed on the CalFile qualifications page.¹⁰ Major commercial tax software also supports the form and runs the worksheets automatically.

If you file on paper and expect a refund, mail your return with Form 3514 attached to: Franchise Tax Board, PO Box 942840, Sacramento, CA 94240-0001.¹¹

Expect roughly three weeks for an e-filed refund and considerably longer for paper, sometimes several months. You can check status with the FTB’s refund tool using your SSN, numbers in your mailing address, ZIP code, and the exact refund amount from Form 540 line 99.¹²

Mistakes That Delay or Disqualify You

The most expensive error is claiming CalEITC when you know you are not eligible. The FTB can bar you from taking the credit for up to 10 years if it finds you did so.⁶

More common holdups come from small inconsistencies. An SSN or ITIN that doesn’t match the name on file with the Social Security Administration or IRS triggers a processing hold. So does an incomplete Part III when children are claimed, or a days-lived-in-California total that doesn’t reconcile. The FTB cross-references these entries against employer filings and federal data, and inconsistencies get flagged quickly.

Keep copies of your filed return, Form 3514, all W-2s and 1099s, and any supporting documents for at least four years. If a verification request arrives, organized records turn a months-long back-and-forth into a quick response.¹

Claiming It for a Prior Year You Missed

If you qualified in a past year but never claimed CalEITC, you have time to fix it. The FTB allows you to claim the credit for up to four prior tax years by filing an original return or amending one you already filed.¹ This is particularly worth checking if you filed with an ITIN before California opened the credit to ITIN holders on January 1, 2020.

1
Franchise Tax Board. California Earned Income Tax Credit
2
Franchise Tax Board. 2025 Instructions for Form FTB 3514 California Earned Income Tax Credit Booklet
3
California Legislative Information. California Revenue and Taxation Code 17052 – Earned Income Tax Credit
4
Franchise Tax Board. Eligibility and Credit Information CalEITC
5
Internal Revenue Service. EITC Due Diligence and Self-Employed Taxpayers
6
Franchise Tax Board. FTB Form 3514 California Earned Income Tax Credit
7
Franchise Tax Board. Young Child Tax Credit
8
Franchise Tax Board. Foster Youth Tax Credit
9
Franchise Tax Board. Due Dates Personal
10
Franchise Tax Board. CalFile Qualifications 2025
11
Franchise Tax Board. 2025 Form 540 California Resident Income Tax Return
12
Franchise Tax Board. Check Your 2025 Refund Status