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Taxable income

 
Investment Dictionary: Taxable Income

The amount of net income used in calculating income tax.

Investopedia Says:
This is your gross income minus all adjustments, deductions, and exemptions.

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Amount of income (after all allowable deductions and adjustments to income) subject to tax. On an individual's federal income tax return, taxable income is Adjusted Gross Income (the sum of wages, salaries, dividends, interest, capital gains, business income, etc., less allowable adjustments that, in part, include Individual Retirement Account contributions, alimony payments, unreimbursed business expenses and Capital Losses up to $3,000) less itemized or standard deductions and the total of personal exemptions. Once taxable income is known, the individual taxpayer finds the total income tax obligation for his or her Tax Bracket by checking the Internal Revenue Service tax tables or by calculating the tax according to a rate schedule. Tax Credits reduce the tax liability dollar-for-dollar.

Net Income of a self-employed person (self-proprietorship) and distributions to members of a partnership are included in adjusted gross income, and hence taxable income, on an individual tax return.

Taxable income of an incorporated business, also called net income before taxes, consists of total revenues less cost of goods sold, selling and administrative expenses, interest, and extraordinary items.

Law Encyclopedia: Taxable Income
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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Under the federal tax law, gross income reduced by adjustments and allowable deductions. It is the income against which tax rates are applied to compute an individual or entity's tax liability. The essence of taxable income is the accrual of some gain, profit, or benefit to a taxpayer.

See: income tax.

Wikipedia: Taxable income
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Taxable income is the portion of income that is the subject of taxation according to the laws that determine what is income and the taxation rate for that income. Generally, taxable income refers to an individual's (or corporation's) gross income, adjusted for various deductions allowable by statute. The main questions put by most individuals in any jurisdiction are "what makes up my taxable income" and what tax rates should be applied such that I can work out my tax liability to the state. For example, suppose within a year, one person earned $100,000 from work, made $50,000 profit from selling stock, and won the lottery for $1,000,000. This person has, prima facie, an income of $1,150,000. However, some of this income may be taxed at a lower rate, or perhaps not taxable at all. In most western countries, 100% of regular salary (above a certain threshold) is taxable and a portion of Capital Gain (ie profit from selling stock or real estate) is taxable.

Contents

Taxable income by country

United States

In the United States, taxable income is defined in Internal Revenue Code 63. The section sets forth that taxable income means gross income (which is broadly defined in Internal Revenue Code 61) minus whatever deductions are allowed by that chapter of the IRC. Section 63(a) provides that individuals may take itemized deductions to determine their taxable income, which allows them to add up their deductible expenses such as college tuition and charitable donations and then subtract that amount from their taxable income. Alternatively, section 63(b) allows the taxpayer to take a standard deduction in determining their taxable income, which reduces their taxable income by an amount set forth elsewhere in the IRC and then further subtracts the deduction for personal exemptions.

Please note that "income" itself is not defined in the Internal Revenue Code. Gross income is defined in section 61 of the Code, and in the case law interpreting the Code.

Formulas

Section 63(a) taxable income = Gross Income - All deductions allowed (other than the standard deduction).

Section 63(b) taxable income = Adjusted Gross Income - Standard deduction (or Itemized deduction) - Personal exemptions.

The realization requirement

In most industrialized countries, in order for income to be recognized in the current year's gross income and thus taxable, the income must be realized.

United States

This realization requirement generally prevails in United States federal tax law. A well-known example is the Supreme Court case Eisner v. Macomber, in which the class of all common shareholders of a corporation were all given proportionate stock dividends. As the dividends were in the form of a one-for-one stock dividend or stock split, none of the shareholders experienced any change in their economic position, thus there was no realization and no taxable income from the dividend issuance. Another example is the unrealized capital gains that an asset owner has. Until the owner sells or otherwise obtains cash from the asset we have no realization. However, an owner need not sell an asset to experience the economic effect of realization.

See also

References

United States


 
 

 

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Investment Dictionary. Copyright ©2000, Investopedia.com - Owned and Operated by Investopedia Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Financial & Investment Dictionary. Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms. Copyright © 2006 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Law Encyclopedia. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Taxable income" Read more