Earned Income Tax Credit - Earned Income

Earned Income

Earned income is defined by the United States Internal Revenue Code as income received through personal effort, with the following as the main sources:

• Wages, salaries, tips, commissions, and other taxable employee pay.
• Net earnings from self-employment.
• Gross income received as a statutory employee.
• Disability payments through a private employer's disability plan received prior to minimum retirement age (62 in 2011).
• Nontaxable combat pay received by a member of the U.S. armed services which he or she elects to include for purposes of EIC calculation. This is an all-or-none election. For each tax year, the sevice member must elect to include either all of the combat pay or none of it.