To qualify for the credit, a taxpayer must earn money, but not too much. 1  $46,997 ($52,427 if married filing jointly) in households with three or more qualifying children. 2  $43,756 ($49,186 if you're married and file jointly) with two qualifying children.
This group excludes regional, national and international airline pilots. Commercial pilots earned a mean annual wage of $76,050 a year as of May 2011. The median reported salary was $70,000 per year, and the median-earning 50 percent of commercial pilots earned between $50,850 and $92,340 a year.
This is far more than most commercial pilots, who reported an average income of $76,050 in the same year. For example, pilots employed by the agricultural industry made an average of $61,010 in 2011, while life-flight pilots averaged $68,090 per year.