{"id":59121,"date":"2023-07-31T15:05:44","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T22:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=59121"},"modified":"2023-07-31T15:05:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T22:05:44","slug":"tax-considerations-for-people-who-are-separating-or-divorcing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=59121","title":{"rendered":"Tax considerations for people who are separating or divorcing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tax Tip 2023-97<\/p>\n<p>July 31, 2023<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When couples separate or divorce, the change in their relationship status affects their tax situation. The IRS considers a couple married for tax filing purposes until they get a final decree of divorce or separate maintenance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Update tax withholding<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When a taxpayer divorces or separates, they usually need to update their proper tax withholding by filing with their employer a new\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/forms-pubs\/about-form-w-4\">Form W-4, Employee&#8217;s Withholding Certificate<\/a>. If they receive alimony, they may have to make estimated tax payments. Taxpayers can figure out if they\u2019re withholding the correct amount with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/individuals\/tax-withholding-estimator\">Tax Withholding Estimator<\/a> on IRS.gov.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tax treatment of alimony and separate maintenance<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Amounts paid to a spouse or a former spouse under a divorce decree, a separate maintenance decree or a written separation agreement may be alimony or separate maintenance for federal tax purposes.<\/li>\n<li>Certain alimony or separate maintenance payments are deductible by the payer spouse, and the recipient spouse must include it in income.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Rules related to dependent children and support<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Generally, the parent with custody of a child can claim that child on their tax return. If parents split custody fifty-fifty and aren&#8217;t filing a joint return, they&#8217;ll have to decide which parent claims the child. If the parents can\u2019t agree, taxpayers should refer to the tie-breaker rules in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/forms-pubs\/about-publication-504\">Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals<\/a>. Child support payments aren&#8217;t deductible by the payer and aren&#8217;t taxable to the payee.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Not all payments under a divorce or separation instrument \u2013 including a divorce decree, a separate maintenance decree or a written separation agreement \u2013 are alimony or separate maintenance. Alimony and separate maintenance doesn\u2019t include:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Child support<\/li>\n<li>Noncash property settlements \u2013 whether in a lump-sum or installments<\/li>\n<li>Payments that are your spouse&#8217;s part of community property income<\/li>\n<li>Payments to keep up the payer&#8217;s property<\/li>\n<li>Use of the payer&#8217;s property<\/li>\n<li>Voluntary payments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Child support is never deductible and isn&#8217;t considered income. Additionally, if a divorce or separation instrument provides for alimony <strong>and<\/strong> child support and the payer spouse pays less than the total required, the payments apply to child support first. Only the remaining amount is considered alimony.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Report property transfers, if needed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Usually, if a taxpayer transfers property to their spouse or former spouse because of a divorce, there\u2019s no recognized gain or loss on the transfer. People may have to report the transaction on a gift tax return.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>More information:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/taxtopics\/tc452\">Topic No. 452 Alimony and Separate Maintenance<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tax Tip 2023-97 July 31, 2023&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59122,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59121\/revisions\/59122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}