Alimony is a payment to or for a spouse or former spouse under a divorce or separation instrument. It does not include voluntary payments that are not made under a divorce or separation instrument.

Alimony is deductible by the payer and must be included in the spouse's or former spouse's income. Although this discussion is generally written for the payer of the alimony, the recipient can use the information to determine whether an amount received is alimony.

To be alimony, a payment must meet certain requirements. Different requirements apply to payments under instruments executed after 1984 and to payments under instruments executed before 1985. These requirements are discussed later.

Spouse or former spouse. Unless otherwise stated in the following discussions about alimony, the term "spouse" includes former spouse.

Divorce or separation instrument. The term "divorce or separation instrument" means:

1. A decree of divorce or separate maintenance or a written instrument incident to that decree,
2. A written separation agreement, or
3. A decree or any type of court order requiring a spouse to make payments for the support or maintenance of the other spouse. This includes a temporary decree, an interlocutory (not final) decree, and a decree of alimony pendente lite (while awaiting action on the final decree or agreement).

Invalid decree. Payments under a divorce decree can be alimony even if the decree's validity is in question. A divorce decree is valid for tax purposes until a court having proper jurisdiction holds it invalid.

Amended instrument. An amendment to a divorce decree may change the nature of your payments. Amendments are not ordinarily retroactive for federal tax purposes. However, a retroactive amendment to a divorce decree correcting a clerical error to reflect the original intent of the court will generally be effective retroactively for federal tax purposes.

Example 1. A court order retroactively corrected a mathematical error under your divorce decree to express the original intent to spread the payments over more than 10 years. This change also is effective retroactively for federal tax purposes.

Example 2. Your original divorce decree did not fix any part of the payment as child support. To reflect the true intention of the court, a court order retroactively corrected the error by designating a part of the payment as child support. The amended order is effective retroactively for federal tax purposes.

Deducting alimony paid. You can deduct alimony you paid, whether or not you itemize deductions on your return. You must file Form 1040. You cannot use Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ.

Enter the amount of alimony you paid on line 31a (Form 1040). In the space provided on line 31b, enter your spouse's social security number.

If you paid alimony to more than one person, enter the social security number of one of the recipients. Show the social security number and amount paid to each other recipient on an attached statement. Enter your total payments on line 31a.

If you do not provide your spouse's social security number, you may have to pay a $50 penalty and your deduction may be disallowed.

Reporting alimony received. Report alimony you received on line 11 of Form 1040. You cannot use Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ.

You must give the person who paid the alimony your social security number. If you do not, you may have to pay a $50 penalty.

Withholding on nonresident aliens. If you are a U.S. citizen or resident and you pay alimony to a nonresident alien spouse, you may have to withhold income tax at a rate of 30% (or lower treaty rate) on each payment. For more information, get Publication 515, Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Entities.

General Rules

The following rules apply to alimony regardless of when the divorce or separation instrument was executed.

Payments not alimony. Not all payments under a divorce or separation instrument are alimony. Alimony does not include:

1. Child support,
2. Noncash property settlements,
3. Payments that are your spouse's part of community income, as explained later under Community Property,
4. Payments to keep up the payer's property, or
5. Use of property.

Example. Under your written separation agreement, your spouse lives rent-free in a home you own and you must pay the mortgage, real estate taxes, insurance, repairs, and utilities for the home. Because you own the home and the debts are yours, your payments for the mortgage, real estate taxes, insurance, and repairs are not alimony. Neither is the value of your spouse's use of the home.

If they otherwise qualify, you can deduct the payments for utilities as alimony. Your spouse must report them as income. If you itemize deductions, you can deduct the real estate taxes and, if the home is a qualified home, you can also include the interest on the mortgage in figuring your deductible interest.

Child support. To determine whether a payment is child support, see the separate discussions under Instruments Executed After 1984 or Instruments Executed Before 1985, later.

Underpayment. If both alimony and child support payments are called for by your divorce or separation instrument, and you pay less than the total required, the payments apply first to child support and then to alimony.

Example. Your divorce decree calls for you to pay your former spouse $200 a month as child support and $150 a month as alimony. If you pay the full amount of $4,200 during the year, you can deduct $1,800 as alimony and your former spouse must report $1,800 as alimony received. If you pay only $3,600 during the year, $2,400 is child support. You can deduct only $1,200 as alimony and your former spouse must report $1,200 as alimony received.

Payments to a third party. Cash payments (including checks and money orders) to a third party on behalf of your spouse under the terms of your divorce or separation instrument may be alimony, if they otherwise qualify. These include payments for your spouse's medical expenses, housing costs (rent, utilities, etc.), taxes, tuition, etc. The payments are treated as received by your spouse and then paid to the third party.

Example 1. Under your divorce decree, you must pay your former spouse's medical and dental expenses. If the payments otherwise qualify, you can deduct them as alimony on your return. Your former spouse must report them as alimony received and can include them in figuring deductible medical expenses.

Example 2. Under your separation agreement, you must pay the real estate taxes, mortgage payments, and insurance premiums on a home owned by your spouse. If they otherwise qualify, you can deduct the payments as alimony on your return, and your spouse must report them as alimony received. If itemizing deductions, your spouse can deduct the real estate taxes and, if the home is a qualified home, also include the interest on the mortgage in figuring deductible interest.

Life insurance premiums. Alimony includes premiums you must pay under your divorce or separation instrument for insurance on your life to the extent your spouse owns the policy.

Payments for jointly-owned home. If your divorce or separation instrument states that you must pay expenses for a home owned by you and your spouse or former spouse, some of your payments may be alimony. See Table 2.

Table 2. Expenses for a Jointly-Owned Home

Instruments Executed After 1984

The following rules for alimony apply to payments under divorce or separation instruments executed after 1984.

Exception for instruments executed before 1985. There are two situations where the rules for instruments executed after 1984 apply to instruments executed before 1985.

1. A divorce or separation instrument executed before 1985 and then modified after 1984 to specify that the after-1984 rules will apply.
2. A temporary divorce or separation instrument executed before 1985 and incorporated into, or adopted by, a final decree executed after 1984 that:
1. Changes the amount or period of payment, or
2. Adds or deletes any contingency or condition.

For the rules for alimony payments under pre-1985 instruments not meeting these exceptions, see Instruments Executed Before 1985, later.

Example 1. In November 1984, you and your former spouse executed a written separation agreement. In February 1985, a decree of divorce was substituted for the written separation agreement. The decree of divorce did not change the terms for the alimony you pay your former spouse. The decree of divorce is treated as executed before 1985. Alimony payments under this decree are not subject to the rules for payments under instruments executed after 1984.

Example 2. Assume the same facts as in Example 1 except that the decree of divorce changed the amount of the alimony. In this example, the decree of divorce is not treated as executed before 1985. The alimony payments are subject to the rules for payments under instruments executed after 1984.

Alimony Requirements

A payment to or for a spouse under a divorce or separation instrument is alimony if the spouses do not file a joint return with each other and all the following requirements are met.

1. The payment is in cash.
2. The instrument does not designate the payment as not alimony.
3. The spouses are not members of the same household at the time the payments are made. This requirement applies only if the spouses are legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance.
4. There is no liability to make any payment (in cash or property) after the death of the recipient spouse.
5. The payment is not treated as child support.

Each of these requirements is discussed below.

Payment must be in cash. Only cash payments, including checks and money orders, qualify as alimony. The following do not qualify as alimony.

• Transfers of services or property (including a debt instrument of a third party or an annuity contract).
• Execution of a debt instrument by the payor.
• The use of property.

Payments to a third party. Cash payments to a third party under the terms of your divorce or separation instrument can qualify as a cash payment to your spouse. See Payments to a third party under General Rules, earlier.

Also, cash payments made to a third party at the written request of your spouse qualify as alimony if all the following requirements are met.

1. The payments are in lieu of payments of alimony directly to your spouse.
2. The written request states that both spouses intend the payments to be treated as alimony.
3. You receive the written request from your spouse before you file your return for the year you made the payments.

Payments designated as not alimony. You and your spouse can designate that otherwise qualifying payments are not alimony. You do this by including a provision in your divorce or separation instrument that states the payments are not deductible as alimony by you and are excludable from your spouse's income. For this purpose, any instrument (written statement) signed by both of you that makes this designation and that refers to a previous written separation agreement is treated as a written separation agreement. If you are subject to temporary support orders, the designation must be made in the original or a later temporary support order.

Your spouse can exclude the payments from income only if he or she attaches a copy of the instrument designating them as not alimony to his or her return. The copy must be attached each year the designation applies.

Spouses cannot be members of the same household. Payments to your spouse while you are members of the same household are not alimony if you are legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance. A home you formerly shared is considered one household, even if you physically separate yourselves in the home.

You are not treated as members of the same household if one of you is preparing to leave the household and does leave no later than one month after the date of the payment.

Exception. If you are not legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance, a payment under a written separation agreement, support decree, or other court order may qualify as alimony even if you are members of the same household when the payment is made.

Liability for payments after death of recipient spouse. If you must continue to make payments for any period after your spouse's death, none of the payments made before or after the death are alimony.

The divorce or separation instrument does not have to expressly state that the payments cease upon the death of your spouse if, for example, the liability for continued payments would end under state law.

Example. You must pay your former spouse $10,000 in cash each year for 10 years. Your divorce decree states that the payments will end upon your former spouse's death. You must also pay your former spouse or your former spouse's estate $20,000 in cash each year for 10 years. The death of your spouse would not terminate these payments under state law.

The $10,000 annual payments are alimony. But because the $20,000 annual payments will not end upon your former spouse's death, they are not alimony.

Substitute payments. If you must make any payments in cash or property after your spouse's death as a substitute for continuing otherwise qualifying payments, the otherwise qualifying payments are not alimony. To the extent that your payments begin, accelerate, or increase because of the death of your spouse, otherwise qualifying payments you made may be treated as payments that were not alimony. Whether or not such payments will be treated as not alimony depends on all the facts and circumstances.

Example 1. Under your divorce decree, you must pay your former spouse $30,000 annually. The payments will stop at the end of 6 years or upon your former spouse's death, if earlier.

Your former spouse has custody of your minor children. The decree provides that if any child is still a minor at your spouse's death, you must pay $10,000 annually to a trust until the youngest child reaches the age of majority. The trust income and corpus (principal) are to be used for your children's benefit.

These facts indicate that the payments to be made after your former spouse's death are a substitute for $10,000 of the $30,000 annual payments. $10,000 of each of the $30,000 annual payments is not alimony.

Example 2. Under your divorce decree, you must pay your former spouse $30,000 annually. The payments will stop at the end of 15 years or upon your former spouse's death, if earlier. The decree provides that if your former spouse dies before the end of the 15-year period, you must pay the estate the difference between $450,000 ($30,000 × 15) and the total amount paid up to that time. For example, if your spouse dies at the end of the tenth year, you must pay the estate $150,000 ($450,000 - $300,000).

These facts indicate that the lump-sum payment to be made after your former spouse's death is a substitute for the full amount of the $30,000 annual payments. None of the annual payments are alimony. The result would be the same if the payment required at death were to be discounted by an appropriate interest factor to account for the prepayment.

Child support. A payment that is specifically designated as child support or treated as specifically designated as child support under your divorce or separation instrument is not alimony. The designated amount or part may vary from time to time. Child support payments are neither deductible by the payer nor taxable to the payee.

Specifically designated as child support. A payment will be treated as specifically designated as child support to the extent that the payment is reduced either:

1. On the happening of a contingency relating to your child, or
2. At a time that can be clearly associated with the contingency.

A payment may be treated as specifically designated as child support even if other separate payments are specifically designated as child support.

Contingency relating to your child. A contingency relates to your child if it depends on any event relating to that child. It does not matter whether the event is certain or likely to occur. Events relating to your child include the child's:

• Becoming employed,
• Dying,
• Leaving the household,
• Leaving school,
• Marrying, or
• Reaching a specified age or income level.

Clearly associated with a contingency. Payments are presumed to be reduced at a time clearly associated with the happening of a contingency relating to your child only in the following situations.

1. The payments are to be reduced not more than 6 months before or after the date the child will reach 18, 21, or local age of majority.
2. The payments are to be reduced on two or more occasions that occur not more than one year before or after a different one of your children reaches a certain age from 18 to 24. This certain age must be the same for each child, but need not be a whole number of years.

In all other situations, reductions in payments are not treated as clearly associated with the happening of a contingency relating to your child.

Either you or the IRS can overcome the presumption in the two situations above. This is done by showing that the time at which the payments are to be reduced was determined independently of any contingencies relating to your children. For example, if you can show that the period of alimony payments is customary in the local jurisdiction, such as a period equal to one-half of the duration of the marriage, you can treat the amount as alimony.

Recapture of Alimony

If your alimony payments decrease or terminate during the first 3 calendar years, you may be subject to the recapture rule. If you are subject to this rule, you have to include in income in the third year part of the alimony payments you previously deducted. Your spouse can deduct in the third year part of the alimony payments he or she previously included in income.

The 3-year period starts with the first calendar year you make a payment qualifying as alimony under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance or a written separation agreement. Do not include any time in which payments were being made under temporary support orders. The second and third years are the next 2 calendar years, whether or not payments are made during those years.

The reasons for a reduction or termination of alimony payments that can require a recapture include:

• A change in your divorce or separation instrument,
• A failure to make timely payments,
• A reduction in your ability to provide support, or
• A reduction in your spouse's support needs.

When to apply the recapture rule. You are subject to the recapture rule in the third year if the alimony you pay in the third year decreases by more than $15,000 from the second year or the alimony you pay in the second and third years decreases significantly from the alimony you pay in the first year.

When you figure a decrease in alimony, do not include the following amounts.

1. Payments made under a temporary support order.
2. Payments required over a period of at least 3 calendar years of a fixed part of your income from a business or property, or from compensation for employment or self-employment.
3. Payments that decrease because of the death of either spouse or the remarriage of the spouse receiving the payments.

How to figure and report the recapture. Both you and your spouse can use Table 3 to figure recaptured alimony.

Including the recapture in income. If you must include a recapture amount in income, show it on Form 1040, line 11 ("Alimony received"). Cross out "received" and write "recapture." On the dotted line next to the amount, enter your spouse's last name and social security number.

Deducting the recapture. If you can deduct a recapture amount, show it on Form 1040, line 31a ("Alimony paid"). Cross out "paid" and write "recapture." In the space provided, enter your spouse's social security number.

Example. You pay your former spouse $50,000 alimony the first year, $39,000 the second year, and $28,000 the third year. You complete Table 3 as shown on Filled-in Table 3. In the third year, you report $1,500 as income on line 11, Form 1040, and your former spouse reports $1,500 as a deduction on line 31a, Form 1040.

Table 3. Worksheet for Recapture of Alimony

Filled-in Table 3. Worksheet for Recapture of Alimony

Instruments Executed Before 1985

The following rules for alimony apply to payments under divorce or separation instruments executed before 1985.

Exception. There are two situations where the rules for instruments executed after 1984 apply to instruments executed before 1985.

1. A divorce or separation instrument executed before 1985 and modified after 1984 to specify that the after-1984 rules will apply.
2. A temporary divorce or separation instrument executed before 1985 and incorporated into, or adopted by, a final decree executed after 1984 that:
1. Changes the amount or period of payment, or
2. Adds or deletes any contingency or condition.

If an exception applies, see Instruments Executed After 1984, earlier.

Alimony Requirements

A payment to or for a spouse under a divorce or separation instrument is alimony if the spouses do not file a joint return and the payment meets both of the following requirements.

1. It is based on the marital or family relationship.
2. It is not child support.

In addition, the spouses must be separated and living apart for a payment under a separation agreement or court order to qualify as alimony.

Payments of a fixed sum. If you must pay a fixed sum in installments, your payments during the year that you treat as alimony cannot be more than 10% of the fixed sum. This limit applies to payments for the current year and payments in advance, but not to late payments for an earlier year.

However, do not treat any part of a late installment payment as alimony if the fixed sum was payable over a period ending 10 years or less from the date of the divorce or separation instrument.

Payments subject to contingencies. Payments are not considered installment payments of a fixed sum if they are to end or change in amount on the happening of one or more of the following contingencies.

1. The death of you or your spouse.
2. The remarriage of your spouse.
3. A change in the economic status of you or your spouse.

The contingency may be either specified in your instrument or imposed by local law.

Marital or family relationship. To be alimony, your payments must be based on your obligation, because of the marital or family relationship, to continue supporting your spouse. Any payment that does not arise out of that support obligation, such as the repayment of a loan, is not alimony.

Property settlement. Payments are not based on your obligation to continue support if they are a settlement of property rights. However, even if a state court describes payments made under a divorce decree as payments for property rights, they are alimony if they are made to fulfill a legal support obligation and they otherwise qualify.

Child support. A payment that is specifically designated as child support under your divorce or separation instrument is not alimony. If the instrument calls for payments that otherwise qualify as alimony and does not separately designate an amount as child support, all the payments are alimony. This is true even if the payments are subject to a contingency relating to your child.

Example. Your divorce decree states that you must pay your former spouse $400 a month for life for the support of your former spouse and your child. The payment is to be reduced to $300 upon the first of the following to happen: the child's death, the child's 22nd birthday, or the child's marriage. Despite these contingencies, no amount of child support is fixed by the decree. The entire payment is alimony.

Alimony Trusts, Annuities, and Endowment Contracts

If you transferred property to a trust or bought or transferred an annuity or endowment contract to pay the alimony you owe, the trust income or other proceeds that would ordinarily be includible in your income must be included in your former spouse's income as alimony received. You do not include the payments in your income, nor can you deduct them as alimony paid. This rule applies whether the proceeds are from the earnings or the principal of the transferred property. It does not apply to any trust income that is fixed for child support.

Example. You must make monthly alimony payments of $500. You bought your former spouse a commercial annuity contract paying $500 a month. Your former spouse must include the full amount received under the contract in income, as alimony. It does not matter whether the amount is paid out of principal or interest. You do not include any part of the payment in your income, nor can you deduct any part.

Annuity and endowment contracts. Proceeds from annuity and endowment contracts bought for or transferred to a spouse after July 18, 1984, cannot be treated as alimony. However, this does not apply to contracts bought or transferred to pay alimony under a divorce or separation instrument executed before July 19, 1984, unless both spouses choose to have it apply.

Proceeds not alimony. If the proceeds from an annuity or endowment contract cannot be treated as alimony, the amount received is reduced by the cost of the contract. Get Publication 575, Pension and Annuity Income, for information on reporting annuities, and Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for information on reporting endowment proceeds.

If the proceeds from a trust cannot be treated as alimony, see the rules for reporting trust income in Publication 525.

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