US Income Statement (P&L) Template
A free, auto-calculating income statement template for US businesses, aligned to US GAAP terminology.
- Accounting standard
- US GAAP
- Financial year
- Any 12-month period; the calendar year (Jan 1 – Dec 31) is most common
- Currency
- USD ($)
- Filed with
- SEC (public companies) — no general registry for private firms
| 2026 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $900,000 | $900,000 |
| Cost of goods sold | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Gross profit | $360,000 | $360,000 |
| Selling, general & administrative expenses | $190,000 | $190,000 |
| Research, development & other operating expenses | $50,000 | $50,000 |
| Operating income | $120,000 | $120,000 |
| Interest expense | $13,000 | $13,000 |
| Income before income taxes | $107,000 | $107,000 |
| Income tax expense | $30,000 | $30,000 |
| Net income | $77,000 | $77,000 |
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How to Fill In a US Income Statement Template
An income statement — also called a profit and loss statement or P&L — shows whether a US business made or lost money over a period, by working from revenue down through costs, expenses, interest and tax to net income. It is the statement lenders, investors and owners look at first to judge profitability.
Under US GAAP this statement follows a specific build: gross profit, then operating income, then pre-tax income, then net income, each a running subtotal rather than a single lump figure.
What is an income statement?
An income statement reports a company’s revenue and expenses over a defined period — a month, quarter or fiscal year — and calculates the resulting profit or loss. Under US GAAP it is built in stages so that a reader can see gross profit, operating income and net income separately, rather than just a single bottom-line number.
What to include
- Revenue — net sales and other ordinary income for the period.
- Cost of goods sold — the direct cost of the goods or services sold, deducted to reach gross profit.
- Gross profit — revenue less cost of goods sold.
- Selling, general & administrative expenses (SG&A) — overhead such as salaries, rent and marketing.
- Research, development & other operating expenses — R&D and any other operating costs not included in SG&A.
- Operating income — gross profit less SG&A and other operating expenses.
- Interest expense — interest paid on loans and other borrowings.
- Income before income taxes — operating income less interest expense.
- Income tax expense — federal and state income tax on pre-tax income.
- Net income — the final profit or loss after all expenses and tax.
Step-by-step guide
- Choose your reporting period — monthly, quarterly, or the full fiscal year — and label the column headings accordingly.
- Enter revenue, recording net sales and any other income earned from ordinary business activities during the period.
- Enter cost of goods sold, capturing the direct costs of producing or delivering what was sold; the template calculates gross profit automatically.
- Enter SG&A costs such as salaries, rent, insurance and marketing.
- Enter research, development and any other operating expenses that don’t belong in SG&A; the template rolls these up into operating income.
- Enter interest expense on any loans, lines of credit or other debt outstanding during the period.
- Enter income tax expense based on your estimated or actual federal and state tax liability for the period.
- Review the calculated net income figure and compare it to the prior period shown in the second column to spot trends.
US-specific rules
Private US companies are not legally required to file an income statement anywhere, but it is the document most commonly requested by banks, investors and the IRS to evaluate a business. SEC-registered public companies must include a comparative income statement in Form 10-K (annual) and Form 10-Q (quarterly), filed in Inline XBRL via EDGAR.
US GAAP requires expenses to be classified by function (cost of goods sold, SG&A, R&D) rather than by nature, and requires a clear operating income line separate from interest and tax — both reflected in this template’s structure.