"Net" is usually the Banking amount. But Gross includes reductions for Returns. What it should not include is, for instance Deductions for Prepayments or Holdbacks such as vendor Tax needing to be passed to an Agency, such as construction Contractor tax is held back from the Gross construction payout and sent to the State.
Obviously, it depends on the Purpose. For example, 1099-Reporting doesn't include payments to suppliers of Products, unless the product costs are incidental to the services provided. And debt principal is not included.
