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Gross Income

Categories: Accounting, Tax

The taxable stuff.

Your gross income is, more or less, your total salary and taxable benefits. Like...you make 7 grand a month as a union toll bridge $5-taker, or $84k a year in salary. You get a bonus of $5k if nobody crashes through the bar. You get another $6k in paid vacation and other freebies, like gas cards and a cell phone. So in total, you make $95k in taxable gross income.

But you have a mortgage that carries interest of $10k a year. You have dependent rugrats living with you, and you can deduct $2k because of them. You have some HSA or healthcare bills that are deductible to the tune of $1k. All of those come off of the otherwise-taxable $95k, and you then pay taxes on $82k. That $82k is your taxable income after having had gross income of $95k.

Gross is good...and it's also good to be a union tollbooth operator.

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)