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petitioner's income. We shall address each portion of the total
monthly payment by Mr. Simpson separately.
Payment Through the Family Court
Mr. Simpson paid $718 each month to the family court
pursuant to the court order entered into during his and
petitioner's marital separation. Although not made directly to
petitioner, the payments were made on her behalf pursuant to a
court order. See sec. 71(b)(1)(A).
The court order states that Mr. Simpson's payments are for
the support of his wife and children. The award is not allocated
in any way between spousal support and child support. Petitioner
argues that despite the unallocated award, the entire $718 should
be attributable to child support because under the Pennsylvania
Support Guidelines (guidelines), Mr. Simpson was required to pay
$789 each month for the support of his two children. The $789
required by the guidelines, petitioner argues, exceeds the amount
ordered by the family court and therefore the entire $718 payment
should be considered child support under section 71(c) for
Federal income tax purposes.
We begin by examining the origin of the State-required
guidelines. In 1988, Congress mandated that each State establish
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