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earned income

American  

noun

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


earned income British  

noun

  1. 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

Etymology

Origin of earned income

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

You and your wife can even open a spousal IRA, which allows the non-working spouse to have an IRA even if they don’t have earned income.

From MarketWatch

“Nothing feels unusual, yet when you remove the steady cadence of earned income, these added moments show up in the numbers faster than expected.”

From MarketWatch

He also authored two opinions on a federal agricultural program from which he, as a farm owner, had earned income, while disclosing his participation in the program in court.

From Salon

Many financial planners recommended contributing to custodial Roth IRAs once grandchildren have earned income and emphasized the power of decades of tax-free compound growth and tax-free income later in life.

From MarketWatch

Contributions must come from the child’s earned income from a job, and total contributions can’t exceed the child’s earnings or the annual IRS limit, whichever is less.

From MarketWatch