What are FY, AY, CY and PY?

FY (Financial Year), also known as the fiscal year, is the period for which annual financial computations are done for individuals, businesses and organizations.

Financial year may be varying between business to business or country to country.

In India, financial year begins on 1^st April and ends on 31^st March. Apart from India, Canada, Japan and Hong Kong too have same fiscal year.

CY is the calendar year; it starts on 1^st   January and ends on 31^st December. Many countries and companies have fiscal year same as the Calendar Year.

Countries like China, Germany and Russia have same fiscal and Calendar Year.

Some countries have altogether different Financial Year, for example in USA; FY begins on 1^st October and ends on 30^th September.

Representation of fiscal year could be confusing for countries and businesses having fiscal year other than the Calendar Year.

For India and other countries with same fiscal year, FY 11 means the Financial Year 2010-2011 that means fiscal year starting from 1^st April 2010 and ending on 31^st March 2011.

AY (Assessment Year) is the following year to the Financial Year. AY is used mainly in IT (income tax) matters.

In the assessment year, we file the income tax return for the past Financial Year.

Let us understand the subject with an example

In India, 31^st July is the last date for filing the IT returns for individuals, so AY 12 (AY 2011-2012) is the Assessment Year, and we shall file the return for FY 11 (FY 2010-2011) before the aforesaid due date.

PY (previous years) is a year previous to the AY, it is just another name of the FY.

In the above example FY 11, is the Previous Year, same as the financial year.