The credit may not exceed 20% of the recipient's income during the year and it is not transferable between spouses.

If, at the year's end, their credit exceeded the maximum (half the size of the overdraft in surplus), the surplus would be confiscated.

The total credit does not exceed $2500.

Regardless of the result of these computations, the credit cannot exceed the amount allocated by the state agency.

Often such credits are refundable when total credits exceed tax liability.

If they qualify, they get a tax reduction or a check if the credit exceeds the tax they owe.

If the credits exceed the fund's tax liability, the excess is refundable.

It is one of the few refundable credits in the tax code, which means claimants get cash if the credit exceeds their tax liability.

So far this year, economists say, credits have already exceeded the total gross national product the Government rather optimistically predicted for 1993.

When the credit exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim the credit.