Earned Income Tax Credit overpayment?

After filling out my information for financial aid with my school, they caught a mistake I made on my tax forms where I transposed a couple numbers on my income. This resulted in me taking $144 from the IRS. I'm filing a 1040x and going to pay the amount, but I'm worried that the IRS is going to think I was being fradulent and take our EITC away this year. Does anyone have any experience with a problem like this?

Anyone can make a mistake. The IRS does not take EITC away from a taxpayer that qualifies for it, nor does it take any other credit or deductions that a taxpayer qualifies for.

By correcting your error you have acknowledged that you have made an error and are fixing it. In some cases the error is not caught by the taxpayer but is caught by the IRS this can result in the taxpayer owing additional amounts in interest and penalties depending on the error and length of time before it is caught.

You are doing the right thing.

You do not have to worry that your EITC will be taken away for a mathematical error.

Make sure that the refund you received was in fact more than it should have been. Lots of times the IRS computers correct math errors. It is possible that your refund check was $144 less than you had shown on your tax return.

If your check was actually larger than it should have been, filing an amendment is the correct way to proceed.

They don't take away your eligibility for EIC just for making a mistake. Don't lose sleep over it.

Frankly, somebody who was trying to cheat by filing a fraudulent tax return would likely do it for a lot more than $144.

As long as you catch it and amend your return before they send you a notice, you should be fine. They will consider it an honest mistake.