Fiscal Year

DEFINITION OF 'FISCAL YEAR - FY'

A period that a company or government uses for accounting purposes and preparing financial statements. The fiscal year may or may not be the same as a calendar year. For tax purposes, companies can choose to be calendar-year taxpayers or fiscal-year taxpayers. The default IRS system is based on the calendar year, so fiscal-year taxpayers have to make some adjustments to the deadlines for filing certain forms and making certain payments. In many instances, even fiscal year taxpayers must adhere to the calendar-year deadlines.

From Wikipedia