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Simple English definitions for legal terms
gain
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A quick definition of gain:
Gain means getting more of something, like more money or more value. It can also mean making a profit by selling something for more than it cost to make or buy. Sometimes people do bad things to get gain, like committing a crime for money. In taxes, gain is the extra money you make when you sell something for more than you paid for it.
A more thorough explanation:
Gain refers to an increase in amount, degree, or value. It can be a gain of money or something that has monetary value. It can also refer to excess of receipts over expenditures or sale price over cost. In tax, it is the excess of the amount realized from a sale or other disposition of property over the property's adjusted value.
- A person invests $100 in a stock and sells it for $150. The gain is $50.
- A thief steals a car and sells it for $10,000. The gain is $10,000.
- A company sells a product for $500 that cost $400 to produce. The gain is $100.
- A person sells a house for $300,000 that they bought for $250,000. The gain is $50,000.
These examples illustrate how gain can refer to an increase in monetary value or excess of receipts over expenditures or sale price over cost. In each example, there is a difference between the amount spent or invested and the amount received, which is the gain.