The Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, is the largest U.S. poverty alleviation program for families with children—providing over $60 billion annually in tax refunds to over 25 million families. This tax refund can improve low-income families' health by increasing resources for food and housing, however, over 20% of eligible families do not receive EITC benefits. Researchers interviewed participants of the ACCESS study to understand EITC perceptions, identify barriers to access, and recommendations for improvement. Eligible recipients said the EITC supports their basic needs, the lump-sum tax credit provides a pathway for larger purchases or savings, and it helps alleviate some financial stress. They reported three barriers to EITC take up including learning barriers like lack of knowledge, compliance barriers like filing taxes and claiming the EITC, and psychological barriers like the complexity and cognitive load for filing for EITC. Eligible recipients recommended that addressing learning barriers, minimizing compliance barriers by simplifying tax filing and increasing EITC refunds could improve take-up among eligible families. This study provides evidence of EITC-eligible recipients’ lived experiences to inform policymaking to support public health. The study was published in Health Affairs Scholar by Wendi Gosliner and Heena Shah from the Nutrition Policy Institute, Kaitlyn Jackson and Rita Hamad from Harvard School of Public Health, and Lia C.H. Fernald from the University of California, Berkeley. This research was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of its “Equity-Focused Policy Research Initiative: Building Evidence on Income Supports for Low-Income Families with Young Children,” the Tipping Point Foundation, and the University of California Berkeley Population Center.