Gross Income is the amount if income before all deductions or any taxpayer’s income, except that which is specifically excluded by the Internal Revenue Code, before taking deductions or taxes into account.

For a business, this amount is pre-tax net sales less cost of sales. Section 61 of the Internal Revenue Code defines "gross income" as "all income from whatever source derived." Section 61(a) of the Code lists fifteen examples of items included in gross income; however, the list is not comprehensive. Therefore, unless the Code specifies that something is excluded from gross income, the assumption is that it is included. Exceptions to what is included in gross income can be found under §§ 101-140 of the Code. Each of these sections excludes a particular type of inflow if it meets the criteria stated. For the purpose of a company's description of an employee's income, the term annual earnings may be used because a person may have other sources of taxable income in a year, apart from what is earned from the employer.