| Abstrakt: |
The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in widespread economic turmoil across the United States. In response, individuals turned to previously seldom-tapped sources of economic relief, including unemployment benefits, one-time withdrawals from retirement accounts, and retained earnings. Additionally, the U.S. government provided unprecedented economic relief, including government stimulus checks, advance child tax credits, and Paycheck Protection Program loans. The introduction of these short-term economic gains creates uncertainty for family courts when calculating a party's "income" for domestic support obligations. Obligors are increasingly attempting to take advantage of reduced income, hardship withdrawals, or corporate distributions. Conversely, recipient spouses are appearing before the court seeking to include stimulus, tax credit, and loan payments in their spouses' incomes. Meanwhile, Congress has promulgated unique tax rules necessitating Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") guidance to address several of these new sources of economic relief. In particular, the government's approach to the taxation of unemployment compensation and relief of debt during the pandemic has altered the traditional calculation of taxable income. This has further contributed to the disconnect between "income" for tax purposes and "income" for purposes of determining the availability of cash for domestic support obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
