Define Annualized Income

Annualized Income

What Is Annualized Income, and What Does It Mean?

An estimate of the amount of money generated by an individual or a firm over the course of a year is called annualised income. Because annualised income is estimated using data from less than a year, it is simply a rough estimate of total revenue for the year. Estimated income tax payments and budgeting can both benefit from annualised income figures.

Getting to Know Annualized Income

The earned income figure is multiplied by the ratio of the number of months in a year divided by the number of months for which income data is available to compute annualised income. If a consultant makes $10,000 in January, $12,000 in February, $9,000 in March, and $13,000 in April, their total earned revenue for those four months is $44,000. To calculate the consultant's annual income, divide $44,000 by 12/4 to get at $132,000.

What Are Estimated Tax Payments and How Do They Work?

Taxpayers pay their annual tax obligations through withholdings and quarterly anticipated tax payments. There are a variety of sources of income that are not subject to withholding taxes. Self-employment income, interest and dividend income, and capital gains, as well as alimony and several other forms of income that may be reported to a taxpayer on Form 1099, are not subject to tax withholdings. 1 To avoid a penalty for underpayment of taxes, the total tax withholdings and projected tax payments must equal 90 percent of the current year's tax owed or the full tax owed the previous year. 

Annualized income examples that fluctuate

When a taxpayer's revenue sources change throughout the year, it's difficult to calculate expected tax payments. Many self-employed people have revenue that fluctuates dramatically from month to month. Consider a self-employed salesperson who earns $25,000 in the first quarter and $50,000 in the second quarter of the year. The higher second-quarter income suggests a higher total level of revenue for the year, while the expected tax payment for the first quarter is based on a lower level of income. As a result, the salesperson may face a first-quarter penalty for underpayment.

The Annualized Income Installment Method is taken into account.

The IRS Form 2210 allows the taxpayer to annualize income for a specific quarter and calculate projected tax payments based on that amount to prevent underpayment penalties due to variable income. Each quarterly period is represented by a column on Schedule AI of Form 2210, and the taxpayer annualizes the income for that period and computes an anticipated tax payment based on that estimate. 3 In the case of the salesman, Form 2210 allows the taxpayer to split the $25,000 first-quarter income from the $50,000 second-quarter income.