passive income

Passive income

Income (such as investment income) that does not come from active participation in a business. Specified by the U.S. tax code.

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passive income (loss)

A special category of income (loss) derived from passive activities, including real estate, limited partnerships, and other forms of tax-advantaged investments. Investors are limited in their deduction of passive losses against active sources of income, such as wages, salaries, and pension income.

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Passive Income

Income from a venture in which an individual does not directly participate. The most common types of passive income are rents and income from a limited partnership. Some analysts consider income derived from securities such as dividends and coupons to be passive income, while others put it into a separate category as portfolio income. Passive income is taxable, but it is often treated differently than active income.

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Passive income. You collect passive income from certain businesses in which you aren't an active participant.

They may include limited partnerships where you're a limited partner, rental real estate that you own but don't manage, and other operations in which you're an investor but have a hands-off relationship.

For example, if you invest as a limited partner, you realize passive income or passive losses because you don't participate in operating the partnership and have no voice in the decisions the general partner makes.

In some cases, income from renting real estate is also considered passive income. On the other hand, any money you earn or realize on your investment portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds is considered active income. That includes dividends, interest, annuity payments, capital gains, and royalties.

Any losses you realize from selling investments in your portfolio are similarly active losses.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations differentiate between passive and active income (and losses) and allow you to offset passive income only with passive losses and active income with active losses.

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passive income

See passive activity income.

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Passive Income

Passive income is income from business activities in which the taxpayer does not materially participate, and most rental activities. See also Material Participation and Portfolio Income.