What Records You Should Keep When You Pay or Receive Alimony Payments?
Alimony, also called spousal support, means paymenta by one spouse to another following a divorce. Courts don't always grant alimony, but where the marriage was long and one spouse earns a lot more than another, or one spouse left the workforce in order to raise children or manage the household, alimony is fairly common.
You must keep adequate records if you are paying or receiving alimony. This point cannot be over-emphasized. Frequently after a divorce, the spouses dispute, or the IRS challenges, the amounts that were actually paid or received. Without adequate documentation, the payer may lose the alimony tax deduction and/or be ordered to pay back support if the other spouse makes a claim in court.
Payer
Here are suggestions of records to keep:
- a list showing each payment (date, check number, address to which the check was sent)
- the originals of checks used for payments (keep in a safe place, such as a safe deposit box) -- be sure to note on each check the month for which the support is being paid, and
- if you pay in cash, receipts for each payment, signed by the recipient.
Be sure to keep these records for at least three years from the date you file the tax return deducting the payments.
Recipient
Make a list that shows each payment received. Include the following information:
- date payment was received
- amount received
- check number or other identifying information (for example, the number of the money order)
- account number on which any check is written
- name of bank on which check is drawn or money order issued
- a photocopy of the check or money order, and
- a copy of any signed receipt you give for cash payments.
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My husband make 120k, he gives me thirty five hundred for house and expenses. 25% of his income if that. He wants to lower that amount because he is over seas and is a contractor. He said he will not make that much, when he returns, he spent all the other money on his new soulmate.