HOH Source of Funds used question

[Gary2]

Child support is not analogous to social security benefits for the child.

Excellent exposition. There's a difference between parental obligations and fiduciary obligations as a guardian managing the child's money.

[taxea]

SS is paid to mom as a convenience. It is still the child's money or the mother would have to declare it on her taxes.
Child Support is also the child's money given to the mom for the same reason, convenience.
As soon as a child turns 18 I tell the support payer that he/she has the option of now wriing the check directly to the child especially if the child has college expenses and is living away from home.

[Koss]

Child Support

Taxea wrote:

SS is paid to mom as a convenience. It is still the child's money or the mother would have to declare it on her taxes.
Child Support is also the child's money given to the mom for the same reason, convenience.
As soon as a child turns 18 I tell the support payer that he/she has the option of now wriing the check directly to the child especially if the child has college expenses and is living away from home.

You might want to check with a local domestic relations attorney before you continue giving out that kind of advice. That simply is not how it works under the state law in most states.

In Ohio, child support terminates when the child turns 18, unless the child is disabled, still in high school, or there are some other special circumstances.

But in any event, the obligee is still the child's parent. The term obligee is a formal term used in the Ohio Revised Code, and it refers to the person who is entitled to receive support payments under a support order. A support order is an order issued by the court. If it names the mother as the person entitled to receive the child support payments, that is not going to magically change when the child turns 18, unless that is what the order says, or unless someone petitions the court to modify the order.

Child support must be paid to the parent. And even after the child turns 18, any delinquent amounts still go to the parent. If the child dies, delinquent amounts are still due and owing to the parent--not the child's estate.

You're screwing around big time with the interpretation of state law, and it has nothing to do with income taxes.

BMK

[tpert]

Thanks all

and especially Koss whose statements clarify this for me.

I apologize to dan for not knowing this well enough to not ask the question. Thank you for reminding me how ignorant I am.

My comments about Social Security paid to the child were not intended to imply that I do not know what that is, but to point out that just because a form of payment is not mentioned, it does not mean it is treated differently.

The clarifying point abioe is that Child Support is considered income (nontaxable income) of the parent as opposed to money conveyed to the parent for the child (a difference I was not aware of). As the former, it is funds paid out of the mother's fund (otherwise I would consider the source to be the father). I apologize for not knowing this to dan any anyone else who thinks this triviality should not have been asked on a professional forum.

[appelman]

That's what the forums are for.

It was not a trivial question. I've been almost convinced by the responses, though I'd still like to see a firm citation.

[tpert]

At the risk of invoking more rants of how little I know, I want to ask a follow-up, if the child support is deemed nontaxable income to the former spouse, do the rest of you routinely add this to the sales tax computation? 30K+ makes a significant difference in this situation.

Thanks.

[Jesse]

I would say no. The amount would be inclusive in the payer's computation as they will not be deducting it from their income. That's just my opinion.

I still contend the child support is considered as contributed equally by both parents - I don't recall what, where, or when I read/heard this - school or a seminar - but that's the way I have always treated it.

[Koss]

Sales Tax

I would say yes, child support can be included in the calculations.

The instructions for Schedule A direct us to use the amount on Form 1040, line 38, "plus any nontaxable items such as the following"

and the list includes veterans' benefits, nontaxable social security, and public assistance payments.

The use of the phrase "such as" implies that the list is not all-inclusive.

Child support seems to fall into the same category.

BMK

[dan doshan]

I'm embarrassed to say that I never thought of including child support in the Sales Tax calculation.

[juanp]

I understand that child support could play a roll in how much the mother supports the children, but this is only behind the scenes.
Child support or welfare is not even mentioned in the tax return neither as earned or unearned income.
Am I completely off here, am I missing something.

Is child support included in the return? where? under what circumstances?