4.1 Concept of Income

Income is the periodical accessions to economic power — money or money's worth — from a source, minus the source's costs. Two classic views: the source theory (income only from recognized sources) and the trust-fund/accretion theory (any net accretion counts). Nepal's Income Tax Act 2058 works by heads and inclusions: it defines income by enumeration (what is included) rather than by a single philosophical formula — the practical approach: income is what the Act says it is, read generously against the taxpayer's whole economic gain.