Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)

Definition of "Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)"

Dale Tomalewski  real estate agent

Written by

Dale Tomalewski elite badge icon

Coldwell Banker Real Estate Services Inc.

We all know what income is or what gross income means, but what is adjusted gross income? When a company calculates its income to determine their taxable income, they take the gross income to measure their adjusted gross income (AGI). The AGI is where the calculations begin for a taxpayer’s tax bill and the baseline for most deductions and credits. When a taxpayer files their taxes online, the software will calculate their AGI for them. 

The adjusted gross income measure of calculation is used to calculate a filer’s tax liability. In active participation, an AGI can make an active participant investor in real estate eligible or not for deductions and influences the claims for deductions and credits.

What does Adjusted Gross Income Mean?

To simplify it, an adjusted gross income is the gross income modified in the tax code. While gross income is the money earned during a year (salary, capital gains, dividends, interest income, alimony, rental income, royalties, and retirement distributions), the AGI considers allowed deductions from the gross income to determine the figure the income tax liability is calculated.

For tax activities, the most useful measure of calculation is the AGI, as deductions are taken out of the gross income. Those deductions are known as adjustments to an individual’s income.

How to calculate Adjusted Gross Income?

The start of the adjusted gross income calculation starts with adding all sources of income from that year. Here we’ll have salaries, profit from a property sale, pensions, unemployment compensations, Social Security payments, or other income types that weren’t reported in the tax returns. From this, the taxpayer subtracts allowed deductions and payments. That leaves a taxpayer with their adjusted gross income.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

The definition for the gross living area published by the Appraisal Institute’s Dictionary of Real Estate 4th Edition is: “The total area of finished, above-grade residential ...

In urban areas, one way to organize urban development is to keep track of building density. The building density definition is a way to determine the concentration of buildings in a given ...

All expenses related to maintaining and operating a household. These expenses include the cost of rent or mortgage payments, taxes, utilities, maintenance and structural improvements. The ...

Also called earnest money. Money deposited with an individual for security for the performance of some contract. This is intended to show his/her willingness to follow through with the ...

Apartment building in which each resident owns a percentage share of the corporation that owns the building. ...

Contract that intends to convey property form one individual to another but is defective in one respect. ...

Appraisal performed in accordance with the National Housing Act to determine the resale value of vacant or improved property in an urban area to be or under development. The renewal ...

Mutually binding property sales contract where the title remains with the seller until the purchase price is paid by the buyer. It is a contract to convey title in the future upon ...

Effective Age is the counterpart to a property’s Actual Age. While the former refers to the date a property was built, the latter is more of a sensorial depiction of its age; the age ...

Popular Real Estate Questions