Passive income is an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it.
The American Internal Revenue Service categorizes income into three broad types, active (earned) income, passive income, and portfolio income. It defines passive income as income from "trade or business activities in which you do not materially participate."[1] Other financial and government institutions also recognize it as an income obtained as a result of capital growth or in relation to negative gearing. Passive income is usually taxable.
Some examples of passive income are:
The IRS has a specific definition of passive income that excludes some of the incomes listed above. Royalties, for example, are, according to the Service guide, generally non-passive in nature. Additionally, interest, dividends, annuities, and gains from stocks and bonds, lottery winnings, salaries, wages, commissions, retirement income, guaranteed payments for services are considered by the IRS to be non-passive. [4][5]