Income

Money you receive.

Income can come from:

• wages and salaries
• business profits
• rent
• dividends
• selling assets

Anything that makes you more wealthy at the end of the year than at the beginning is thought of as income. For example, if you own a house that goes up in value during the year (makes a capital gain) that is income, even if you don’t actually get it in your hand until you sell the house.
Income that is yours but isn’t available until you sell up is ‘economic income’ and is untaxed. When you sell up, the income is ‘realised’.
A big issue in Aotearoa is that income from wealth is often taxed differently (and more lightly) than income from work.