Tag Archive for Child Custody

Taxes And Divorce – Part 5

Help Your Client Help Themselves

If you as a tax professional get the opportunity to advise your client before all the I’s are dotted and T’s crossed at the courthouse, here are some things you can do to help:

1. Based on the desired outcome for child custody, have a Form 8332 already prepared for you clients attorney to present for signature at the time of the court appearance.
2. If there will be a distribution from a qualified retirement account, make sure the QDRO is drawn up in the most tax beneficial manner.
3. If there is to be separate maintenance or support make sure the order is drawn up in the most tax beneficial manner for your client. Read More

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Taxes And Divorce – Part 4

Community Property

There are currently nine states that have community property laws. Every state’s specifics are slightly different, some more or less stringent then others. For the most part, from an income tax standpoint, community property laws mean that anything earned or purchased while the “community” or marriage was intact is split 50/50. This is a big issue in the disposition of property and/or business, which we will discuss later. If you are completing a return either in or for someone in a community property state you should research that state’s specific laws.

When preparing a tax return, some states require that a separately filed return have all Read More

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Taxes And Divorce – Part 3

Alimony

Alimony or separate maintenance is a payment ordered by court decree (not an agreement unsanctioned by the court between parties)(Faylor v Comm’r T.C. Memo. 2013-143) made from one party in a divorce proceeding to the other, in order for the receiving party to maintain a standard of living. (§ Cod. Sec. 215)

We see both sides of this situation all the time, so we must be able to determine if the payments are deductible to the payer and if so they are taxable to the payee. There are several conditions that must be met in order for the tax treatment of the payments to be determined: Read More

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Taxes And Divorce – Part 2

Child Custody

The second biggest topic in most divorce cases is child custody and dependent exemptions. Effective 1 Jan 2009, new rules kicked in regarding the necessary documentation for claiming the dependent exemption for a child of divorced or separated parents. Before this date a copy of the judicial decree was sufficient, however, due to the varying nature and ambiguous wording of the different jurisdictions, this was determined to be inadequate. (§ Cod. Sec. 152)

The Form 8332 (Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent), or a facsimile with all the same information, is now required to be Read More

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