Gross Up
Categories: Accounting, Company Management
The next level of disgusting after “gross out." Puking demurely in a garbage can would constitute a "gross out." Puking directly into someone's mouth would be a real "gross up."
It's also a term in finance. Grossing up, in business terms, means increasing the amount you pay someone in order to account for taxes and other expenses.
You are increasing their gross (as in "gross pay" or "gross profit") to make sure they receive a targeted amount, even after taxes are paid. Usually, it's a concept used for one-time payments, like severance or bonuses.
Someone kidnaps your dog and demands $500,000 ransom. You show up at the appointed time with a briefcase full of cash. The kidnapper counts the half mil, then frowns. Despite being a kidnapper, he always pays appropriate taxes, and once he reports the ransom to the IRS, he might clear $350,000.
He demands you gross up, giving you more cash so that, once taxes come out, he’s still left with half a million in cash.