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Rules of Civil Procedure states that the grids3 assume that an
order will be unallocated.
Under Federal tax law, there are tax consequences resulting
from an award's being classified as alimony or child support.
Under section 215, an individual taxpayer is allowed to deduct
amounts paid as alimony. Alimony payments are includable in the
gross income of the recipient under section 71. Child support
payments, on the other hand, are nondeductible by the payor and
are specifically excluded from the definition of alimony and thus
not includable in the gross income of the payee parent under
section 71(c).
To determine whether any portion of the payment is child
support, we look solely to the language contained in the court
order itself. See sec. 71(c)(1). The language of section
71(c)(1) is clear that for payments to be child support, the
written divorce instrument by its terms must fix a sum which is
payable as child support. It is inappropriate, in light of this
clear statutory language, to look beyond the written instrument
3The amount of child, spousal support, or alimony pendente
lite "shall be determined in accordance with the support
guidelines" either by using the net income formula or by using
charts derived from the formula, called "grids". Pa. R. Civ.
Proc. 1910.16-1(b); Pa. R. Civ. Proc. 1910.16-1, Explanatory
Comment C.2; Pa. R. Civ. Proc. 1910.16-3; see also Ball v.
Minnick, 648 A.2d 1192 (Pa. 1994).
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