- 10 - Secs. 61(a)(8), 71(a), 215(a).7 The phrase “alimony or separate maintenance payment” is defined in section 71(b)(1) as any cash payment satisfying the following four requirements: (A) such payment is received by (or on behalf of) a spouse under a divorce or separation instrument, (B) the divorce or separation instrument does not designate such payment as a payment which is not includible in gross income under this section and not allowable as a deduction under section 215, (C) in the case of an individual legally separated from his spouse under a decree of divorce or of separate maintenance, the payee spouse and the payor spouse are not members of the same household at the time such payment is made, and (D) there is no liability to make any such payment for any period after the death of the payee spouse and there is no liability to make any payment (in cash or property) as a substitute for such payments after the death of the payee spouse. Respondent concedes that petitioner’s $50,000 payment to Ms. Springer in 1996 satisfies subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of section 71(b)(1). The issue in dispute is whether the payment satisfies subparagraph (D). If the terms of the divorce documents or Nebraska law would have required the annual payments of $50,000 to terminate on the 7Sec. 215(a) provides a general rule that “In the case of an individual, there shall be allowed as a deduction an amount equal to the alimony or separate maintenance payments paid during such individual’s taxable year.”Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011