earned income

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noun

income from wages, salaries, fees, or the like, accruing from labor or services performed by the earner.

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Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Compare unearned income.

Origin of earned income

First recorded in 1880–85

Words nearby earned income

early wood, earmark, ear-minded, earmuff, earn, earned income, earned run, earned run average, earner, earnest, earnestly

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use earned income in a sentence

Before 2021, you had to have at least some earned income to get the refundable portion of the child tax credit.
The child tax credit is helping parents feed kids and pay for care. But there are only four payments left.|Michelle Singletary|September 10, 2021|Washington Post
SSI participants cannot make more than $65 in earned income and $20 in unearned income each month, which is the same amount the program allowed when it began nearly 50 years ago.
Democrats Want to Reform This Program That Helps Poor Elderly and Disabled Americans|Abigail Abrams|July 22, 2021|TIme
The credit for qualifying children is fully refundable, which means that taxpayers can benefit even if they don’t have any earned income or don’t owe income taxes.
FAQ: What you need to know about the child tax credit payments starting in July|Michelle Singletary|June 25, 2021|Washington Post
That’s not to say that increasing the minimum wage and expanding the earned income, child and child-care tax credits shouldn’t be a top priority for a new Democratic president and Congress.
Battle over $1.9 trillion covid relief package is as much about political optics as economic necessity|Steven Pearlstein|February 3, 2021|Washington Post

The earned income tax credit program, a subsidy for people who don’t make enough to pay income taxes, could be expanded to make it worth it for more people to file a return.
Millions Still Haven’t Gotten Stimulus Checks, Including Many Who Need Them Most|by Lydia DePillis|October 30, 2020|ProPublica
McConnell similarly talked out of both sides of his mouth on the minimum wage, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and other issues.
The Amazingly Two-Faced Mitch McConnell|Michael Tomasky|October 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And people who qualify for the earned income-tax credit pretty much have to take it in an annual lump sum.
Happy Tax Day. Now Stop Making Interest-Free Loans to the U.S. Government.|Megan McArdle|April 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Of course, the Earned Income Tax Credit will get scored by the CBO as costing money, while a higher minimum wage won't.
How to Think About the Minimum Wage|Megan McArdle|February 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Today's Earned Income Tax Credit is its successor, and it is available only to those already committed to work.
Let's Revisit the Negative Income Tax|David Frum|February 1, 2013|DAILY BEAST
And in 1975, the year after Nixon resigned, Democrats and Republicans worked together to pass the first Earned Income Tax Credit.
Michael Tomasky on How the GOP Invented Mitt Romney’s “Moochers”|Michael Tomasky|September 20, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Oh, but surely if we have to call ourselves Wurzel-Flummery it would count as earned income.
First Plays|A. A. Milne
Exemptions from earned income tax are similar to those already mentioned in the case of Prussia.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 3|Various
But, speculative income should not be favored over earned income.
State of the Union Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt
He may have put by a bit out of his hard-earned income, but, as I always say to him, he wants that against a rainy day.
Cleo The Magnificent|Louis Zangwill

British Dictionary definitions for earned income

earned income

noun

income derived from paid employment and comprising mainly wages and salaries

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012