At what point is money considered to be my income?

Question

I'm working as a freelancer via an escrow company. So my customer transfers money to the said company and then it transfers accumulated money to my bank account. Does the money count as my income when it is transferred to my balance within the escrow company, or when the money is transferred to my bank account?

Answer 1

In the United States the general policy is that the IRS would consider it income when you have access to the money.

I work for a company that has a contract with another company. Near the end of the year I turn in a time card that has my hours that I worked as of that date. Because they don't pay me until early January the money on the check is counted in the new year. I couldn't touch the money until they issued the check. If they had paid me on December 31st it would have counted as the old year, even if I only had a short window to have access to it before the year ended. It would even count as old year money if I held on to the December check, but didn't deposit it until March.

So it would become income when you could use it. So If you could access it via a check, or debit card, or transfer it to the bank it is now income.

Of course that is in the United States. You would need to see what the situation is in Singapore....

The edge cases always depend on the country.