Workbook — For Families · Created October 5, 2026 · 1 min read
Kids’ Income & Roth Tracker
For children earning outside a W-2 — and the Roth contribution that earning unlocks.
A child can contribute to a Roth IRA up to what they actually earned — and the earning has to be documented to count. This logs the income as it happens, separates family money from earned money, and shows the contribution room it creates.
What This Workbook Does
- A row per job with the income and its source, which is the record that makes the contribution defensible.
- A separate column for family contributions, so gift money never gets counted as earned income.
- A running available-contribution figure for the year.
How to Use It
- Log each job as it is done, with who paid and what for. Contemporaneous records are the whole point.
- Keep family money in the family column. Only earned income creates Roth contribution room.
- Check the available-contribution figure against the annual IRA limit — the allowance is the lesser of the two.
- Keep the file with your tax records for the year.
What It Will Not Do
This documents the income; it does not decide whether an arrangement counts as earned income. Household chores generally do not. Work for a real employer, or a genuine business paying a market rate, generally does.
Where to go next: Documenting a Child’s Income — what the record has to show to hold up; Roth IRA for Kids — the account this income fills; Hiring Your Child — paying a child through a family business.