If by maternity leave benefits, you mean the continuation of salary while on maternity leave, then that is reportable as regular salary income - and is fully eligible for the foreign earned income exclusion.
Cheers,
Bev

 

Some countries also have a government paid maternity benefit - sometimes in addition to a salary continuation. I would consider that sort of maternity payment government social security and thus most likely tax exempt if you are in a country with a tax treaty with the US.

 

I'm going to quibble with this just a bit. (But it's more a matter of "right answer - different reason")

Maternity benefits aren't normally covered by a Social Security treaty. However, in the IRS publication on Income (I think it's Pub 525), it specifically states that "public assistance" benefits are NOT considered income for tax purposes. But yes, if you're getting maternity benefits from the government, I would simply leave them off your US return.
Cheers,
Bev

 

America presumably doesn't actually have a policy on whether government-paid maternity benefits should be taxed, since America doesn't have any such thing.

A chart at Statista shows how the developed countries rank in offering guaranteed paid maternity leave to the women carrying the next generation of taxpayers:

https://infographic.statista.com/no.../chartoftheday_8359_the_us_is_still_light_years_behind_in_maternity_leave_n.jpg

Canada comes in about midway. The US, natch, comes in at the bottom, with zero weeks. The First Daughter has apparently proposed to remedy this; under Ivanka's proposal, six weeks leave would be guaranteed.

Unfortunately, there seems little chance Ivanka's proposal will ever get through Congress. A very real hardship for poor American families. It would be good if there was a charity specifically devoted to helping families in this situation.

 

Bipartisan solution proposed:

A new report from the AEI-Brookings Working Group on Paid Family Leave highlights the benefits and costs of providing paid leave from the perspective of workers, businesses, and society.

There was disagreement in the group about the specific design of a paid leave policy, but the group unanimously agreed that some form of paid parental leave should be offered to help workers at the time of birth, adoption, or fostering of a child.

The report suggests a compromise plan for policymakers to consider. The compromise plan would provide eight weeks of gender-neutral paid parental leave, replace 70 percent of wages, and offer job protection. The policy would be fully funded by a combination of payroll taxes and savings elsewhere in the budget, with no increase in the deficit but also no adverse effects on low-income families.

Paid Family and Medical Leave: An Issue Whose Time Has Come