If you were married for a significant length of time and have a higher income than your former spouse, it is likely that you are required to pay alimony pursuant to your divorce. Fortunately, however, you may be able to deduct these alimony payments from your taxes. Learn here how to deduct your Muskogee alimony payments from your taxes.
As general rule, any alimony that you receive is taxable as income and any alimony that you pay can be claimed as a tax deduction. However, in order to deduct your Muskogee alimony payments from your taxes, your payments must comply with strict IRS regulations regarding what are considered to be alimony payments.
What Are Considered Alimony Payments For Tax Purposes In Muskogee?
In order for payments to your ex-spouse to be considered alimony payments, and thus tax deductible, they must meet the following criteria:
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The Muskogee alimony payments must be in cash or cash equivalent, such as a check or money order. Neither services performed nor real property will qualify as Muskogee alimony payments.
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If you and your spouse are legally separated, you must not have been members of the same household at the time the payments were made.
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Your payments must have been pursuant to a divorce decree or separation agreement, or any type of court order requiring you to make maintenance payments to your former spouse.
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Your Muskogee alimony payments must not be treated as child support, or in any way linked to anything having to do with child support. For instance, the termination of your alimony payments, as specified in your divorce decree or separation agreement, should not be linked to your children reaching a certain age. Child support payments are any payments made that are associated with child support and they are not tax deductible. So, if you link your alimony payments to anything associated with raising your children, you will risk the IRS disallowing your deductions on the basis that they were child support payments. This in turn can result in you being sued for back taxes.
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Your payments must not be designated as non-alimony payments in your divorce decree or separation agreement. On the other hand, you can agree with your spouse to render your payments non-deductible in your divorce decree or separation instrument. This can be helpful if you do not need the deduction and your ex-spouse does not want to report the income, such as in rare cases where the receiving spouse is in a higher tax bracket than the paying spouse and wants to avoid the added tax burden.
Summary
As a general rule, you can deduct your Muskogee alimony payments from your taxes if 1) they are paid in cash or cash equivalent, (2) you don’t live with your ex, (3) they are pursuant to a divorce decree or separation instrument, (4) they are not associated with child support and (5) they are not designated as a non-alimony payment in your divorce decree or separation instrument.
Confidential Conversation: Muskogee Divorce Attorney
You may be eligible to deduct your Muskogee alimony payments from your taxes. To be sure, call an experienced Muskogee divorce attorney today at (918) 913-0725, or toll-free at 1 (888) 947-8452 (Wirth Law). If you prefer, you can use the box in the upper right-hand corner of this page to send a question or message.
