Similar story here. I had quit my job to return to college full time, but I worked for a few months that year. Turns out that qualified me for the Earned Income

Similar story here. I had quit my job to return to college full time, but I worked for a few months that year. Turns out that qualified me for the Earned Income Tax Credit. This credit is supposed to encourage poor people to work instead of living off government assistance. I would have never thought to claim the credit because I didn't think of myself as low income. On a monthly basis, I wasn't. But because of working for part of the year, on an annual basis, for that tax year, I was. One day I got a letter from the IRS saying essentially, "Hey dummy, why didn't you claim this credit on your return? We fixed it for you. Here's a check."