The tax code was totally rewritten for the tax year beginning 2018.

IRS Publication 504 provides a detailed summary of income tax rules for divorcing individuals and people who have children.  Child support is not taxable to the parent who receives child support, and the parent who pays child support does get a tax deduction.  Generally, the parent who has the child the most overnights is the one who gets to claim the child as a dependent for all tax purposes.  It is possible to assign the child dependency rights to the other parent. Through 2018, alimony payments can be designated as tax deductible to the person who pays alimony and counted as taxable income to the person who receives the alimony payments.  Starting in 2019, new agreements or orders for alimony will have no tax benefit to the person who pays alimony and the person who receives the alimony will not report alimony as income.  You should seek the advice of a qualified tax advisor for guidance on tax consequences related to allocation of property incident to divorce.  The IRS has many publications that outline tax issues in terms that are easy to understand.


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