What Is Other Earned Income on 1040 Line 1h? Examples and EITC Impact

Other earned income on Form 1040 is taxable pay you received for work that didn’t come through on a W-2, and it goes on Line 1h of your return. Three categories cover almost every case: strike or lockout benefits from a union, disability retirement payments received before you reach minimum retirement age, and excess elective deferrals to a workplace retirement plan (plus corrective distributions of those excess amounts). Because nothing was withheld from most of these payments, reporting them correctly is on you, and doing it right can also raise your Earned Income Tax Credit.

Strike and Lockout Benefits

Cash payments and the fair market value of goods you get from a union during a strike or lockout are taxable earned income and belong on Line 1h. The one narrow exception is a genuine gift: a payment made with no strings attached and no expectation that you participate in the strike. Most strike benefits are tied to participation, which is why they fall inside the tax code’s broad definition of gross income. Your union should send a year-end statement showing the total it paid you.

Disability Retirement Payments Before Minimum Retirement Age

If you retired because of a disability, payments from your employer’s disability retirement plan count as earned income until you reach what the IRS calls your minimum retirement age. That’s the earliest age at which you could have started a regular pension or annuity if you hadn’t been disabled.¹ These payments usually arrive on a Form 1099-R, and the taxable amount goes on Line 1h.

Once you pass minimum retirement age, the same payments are reclassified as pension income and move to Lines 5a and 5b.² Nothing about the check changes; only the line it belongs on.

Excess Elective Deferrals and Corrective Distributions

If you contributed more than the annual limit to your 401(k), 403(b), or a similar workplace plan, the excess goes on Line 1h. Your plan administrator should tell you about the over-contribution, and the excess amount shows up in Box 12 of your W-2.

There is one thing not to double count: designated Roth contributions that exceed the limit are already included in the wages reported in Box 1 of your W-2, so you don’t add them again on Line 1h.² Corrective distributions of excess contributions, reported to you on Form 1099-R, also belong on Line 1h.

What Doesn’t Belong on Line 1h

Several kinds of income look like they might fit on Line 1h but have their own homes on the return. Putting them on 1h is a common source of IRS notices.

Household employee wages not reported on a W-2 (nanny, housekeeper, gardener work) go on Line 1b. For 2026, household employers only have to withhold Social Security and Medicare taxes once they pay you $3,000 or more in cash wages during the year, but the pay is taxable to you either way. You don’t owe self-employment tax on these wages.³⁴
Taxable scholarship or fellowship money not on a W-2 goes on Schedule 1, Line 8r, not Line 1h. The taxable portion is whatever you spent on room, board, travel, or other non-required expenses; amounts used for tuition, required fees, books, supplies, and required equipment are tax-free, and any payment for required teaching or research is taxable.²⁵
Nontaxable combat pay you’re electing to count toward the EITC goes on Line 1i. The pay itself stays nontaxable; the election only affects the credit calculation.⁶
Qualified Medicaid waiver payments under IRS Notice 2014-7 are excluded from income entirely and handled on Line 1d, not Line 1h.⁷

Line 1h totals into Line 1z along with the other Line 1 sub-lines and feeds your adjusted gross income. The IRS matches what employers, plan administrators, schools, and agencies report against what’s on your return, and mismatches trigger a CP2000 notice proposing changes.⁸ Using the right sub-line is the cleanest way to avoid one.

Why Line 1h Matters for the Earned Income Tax Credit

Line 1h isn’t just a reporting slot. The EITC is calculated on your total earned income, which the tax code defines as wages, salaries, tips, other employee compensation, and net self-employment earnings.⁹ Strike benefits and pre-retirement disability payments count toward that total, so leaving them off understates both your income and, potentially, the credit you qualify for.

The credit phases in and then phases out, so more earned income helps up to a point and hurts after that. For 2026, the EITC disappears entirely once earned income or AGI reaches $62,974 for a single or head-of-household filer with three or more children, or $70,244 for joint filers at that family size. The credit is also unavailable if your investment income tops $12,200 for the year.¹⁰

Two items on the return require an affirmative choice before they’ll count toward EITC: nontaxable combat pay on Line 1i and excludable Medicaid waiver payments. Because the effect can go either way, run the numbers with and without the election before you file.

Paying Tax When Nothing Was Withheld

Most Line 1h income arrives with no federal tax withheld. If you expect to owe $1,000 or more when you file, the IRS generally expects quarterly estimated payments rather than one payment at filing time. The due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year, moving to the next business day if a date falls on a weekend or federal holiday.¹¹ You can pay through IRS Direct Pay, EFTPS, or by mailing a voucher with Form 1040-ES.

To avoid an underpayment penalty, your withholding plus estimated payments must cover at least the smaller of 90 percent of your current-year tax or 100 percent of your prior-year tax. If your prior-year AGI was over $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately), the prior-year safe harbor rises to 110 percent.¹² Underpayments carry interest at 7 percent per year, compounded daily, as of the first quarter of 2026.¹³

Fixing Line 1h After You’ve Already Filed

If you left Line 1h income off your return or put it on the wrong line, file Form 1040-X to correct it. The amended return shows what you originally reported, the change, and the corrected amount, along with a short explanation such as “Received union strike benefit statement after filing.”¹⁴

To claim a refund from an amendment, such as when adding earned income increases your EITC, you generally have to file within three years of the original return’s due date or within two years of paying the tax, whichever is later. Processing usually runs 8 to 12 weeks and can stretch to 16.¹⁴

1
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 907, Tax Highlights for Persons With Disabilities
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040 and 1040-SR
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 926, Household Employer’s Tax Guide
4
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule SE
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 117 – Qualified Scholarships
6
Internal Revenue Service. Updates to Publication 3, Regarding the Nontaxable Combat Pay Election
7
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2014-7
8
Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP2000 Series Notice
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 32 – Earned Income
10
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32
11
Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Tax
12
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2210
13
Internal Revenue Service. Interest Rates Remain the Same for the First Quarter of 2026
14
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-X