- Tax profit
Tax profit or taxable profit is used to distinguish between
accounting profit orearnings (the number that is generally referred to in financial results forpublic companies and quoted in the press). Taxable profit is the number that is used to calculateprofit tax .For a number of reasons, taxable profit may differ from reported earnings, and may be higher or lower.
Company financial reports often distinguish between
profit before tax andafter-tax profit .Example
A company has accounting profit before tax of $100, but due to the use of
accelerated depreciation , has a taxable profit of $50. The company pays profit tax at a rate of 20%.In this simple example, the company would report the following:
#Profit before tax: $100
#Taxable profit: $50
#Taxes: $10
#After-tax profit: $90Depending on the reason for the differences between profit before tax and taxable profit, the company may show a
tax liability ortax asset to account for future taxes. Depending on the circumstances and theaccounting standards , taxes paid in cash and taxes shown on theprofit and loss statement may also differ.Taxable profit is rarely shown in the published financial statements. Due to the differences between nominal tax rates and actual taxes paid, analysts sometimes refer to the
effective tax rate , which is (actual) taxes divided by profit before tax. In the example above, the effective tax rate would be 10%.
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