after-tax

after-tax — adjective

1. used to describe an amount of money that is left over after the government has t

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

used to describe an amount of money that is left over after the government has taken tax on it — for example, after-tax income or after-tax profit.

Example

Mei's after-tax salary was enough to cover her rent and groceries each month.

attributive: after-tax + salary

The company reported an after-tax profit of two million dollars last year.

attributive: after-tax + profit

Common collocations
  • after-tax income
  • after-tax profit
  • after-tax return
  • after-tax salary
  • after-tax earnings
  • after-tax pay
Synonyms
  • net

    broader term — net pay also includes other deductions (insurance, pension), not just taxes

  • take-home

    less formal, used mainly for salary or wages after all deductions

Antonyms
  • pretax

    describes the amount before any taxes are subtracted

  • gross

    the total amount before any deductions at all

Grammar Patterns

after-tax + noun

Usage Note

Always placed before the noun it modifies. You cannot say 'the income is after-tax' — use 'the income is after taxes have been paid' instead.

Common Mistakes

Her salary is after-tax.
Her after-tax salary is thirty-five thousand dollars.
'after-tax' is only used before a noun, not as a predicate.

2. after you have paid the tax that you owe on money you have earned or received —

2.adjectiveB1
Definition

after you have paid the tax that you owe on money you have earned or received — used as a phrase to show what a figure looks like once tax is subtracted.

Example

After tax, Mei's annual take-home pay was roughly forty-five thousand dollars.

clause-initial adverbial phrase: after tax,

The investment earned five percent before tax but only three and a half percent after tax.

parallel structure: before tax ⋯ after tax

Common collocations
  • after tax, + clause
  • before tax ⋯ after tax
Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

after tax in clause-initial or clause-final position

Usage Note

In this adverbial use the hyphen is usually dropped — write 'after tax', not 'after-tax'. Distinguish from sense 1 (REMAINING AFTER TAXES): sense 1 goes before a noun, while this sense appears at the start or end of a clause.

Common Mistakes

After-tax, my salary is forty thousand.
After tax, my salary is forty thousand.
when used as an adverbial phrase, drop the hyphen.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All three describe money remaining after deductions. 'After-tax' is the most precise term, referring specifically to amounts after income tax has been subtracted — you see it in official contexts like 'after-tax profit' or 'after-tax return'. 'Net' is broader and more formal: it includes all deductions (tax, insurance, pension contributions), not just taxes. 'Take-home' is the least formal and normally refers only to salary or wages after every deduction — a worker might say 'my take-home pay' but would not use it for investment returns or corporate profits. For example: 'The company's after-tax profit was $2M' (taxes only), 'Her net pay was $3,200 after insurance and tax' (all deductions), 'His take-home pay barely covers the bills' (informal, everyday language).

net ↗take-home ↗after-tax ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • before tax and after tax
  • on an after-tax basis

Prepositions

Etymology

English

Formed by combining the preposition 'after' with the noun 'tax', following the same pattern as other hyphenated financial compounds such as 'pretax' and 'tax-free'. The usage dates from the early twentieth century, when modern income tax systems became widespread.

First known use

1944

1944, in the meaning defined above