Are my alimony payments deductible?

Amounts paid to a spouse or former spouse under a divorce or separation instrument (including a divorce decree, a separate maintenance decree, or a written separation agreement) may be considered alimony for federal tax purposes.

Alimony Requirements: To qualify as alimony, all the following must be true:

• You and your spouse don't file a joint return together.
• The payment is in cash (including checks or money orders).
• The payment is made to or for a spouse or former spouse under a divorce or separation instrument.
• The divorce or separation instrument doesn't say the payment is "not alimony."
• You and your spouse aren't living in the same household when the payment is made (this only applies if you are legally separated under a divorce decree or separate maintenance).
• There's no obligation to make the payment (in cash or property) after the recipient spouse's death.
• The payment isn't treated as child support or a property settlement.

Payments Not Alimony Not every payment made under a divorce or separation agreement counts as alimony. Alimony does not include:

• Child support.
• Noncash property settlements, whether paid as a lump-sum or in installments.
• Payments that represent your spouse's share of community property income.
• Payments to keep up the payer's property.
• Use of the payer's property.
• Voluntary payments that aren't required by a divorce or separation instrument.

It's important to note that if you owe both alimony and child support and pay less than the amounts required during the year, the payments will first be applied to your child support obligation before being applied to alimony.

For divorces finalized after December 31, 2018, the payer can't deduct alimony payments, and the recipient won't declare these payments as taxable income. This also applies to divorces finalized before 2019 if they were modified after December 31, 2018, and the modification states that the alimony deduction repeal applies to the modification.