[thrive_headline_focus title=”The IRS thinks you are cheating on your spousal support” orientation=”left”]

According to the Journal of Accountancy, the IRS has increased resources devoted to scrutinizing alimony, or spousal support.  

As is well known amongst divorcing individuals and the professionals who support them, the tax code allows the payor of spousal support to deduct it from taxable income, while the recipient must include it in taxable income. So if Kevin pays Kate $30,000 of spousal support a year, he can reduce his taxable income by that amount while she is supposed to claim it as income, and pay taxes. 

Predictably, divorced couples don’t agree about spousal support any more than they do about anything else. On March 31 2014, TIGTA , the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an IRS watchdog, issued a report identifying a large tax gap between spousal support deductions by payers and the corresponding income claimed on ex-spouses’ returns.

With its mouthful of a title (“Significant Discrepancies exist  between Alimony Deductions Claimed by Payers and Income Reported by Recipients“), TIGTA clearly wants us to pay attention.  TIGTA found that for the 570,000 returns that they analyzed for the tax year 2010, deductions exceeded income by more than $2.3 billion. More than 47% of returns showed discrepancies between the spousal payments deducted and the income reported.

According to Mike Conti, a CPA in Boston, TIGTA estimated that the IRS revenue loss from spousal support errors could add up to $1.7 billion over a five year period. Although that is small compared to the estimated $385 billion tax gap experienced in the US, spousal support is now a target for the IRS that has been identified and quantified. 

In fact, the IRS reported adjusting its audit filters to catch more high risk returns. The WSJ reports that the IRS is developing “other strategies” to address the spousal support tax gap. In other words, divorcing individuals, at least those paying and receiving spousal support will be at a higher risk for an audit.

There are enough things going on in a divorce that a potential IRS audit may not make it to the top of the list of concerns.  However, given that it is now completely predictable, it is better for divorcing individuals to pay the extra attention and avoid the audit or be ready for it.

For people paying spousal support as well as for those receiving it, it is important to ensure that:

1. You fully understand what is alimony and what is not. Separation agreements are written in a legal style that is not always clear to non-lawyers. If you are not sure, if you have questions check with a financial specialist such as a CFP® professional, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA) or a CPA.

2. You agree with your ex on what spousal support amount you are putting on your respective tax returns. Having a discrepancy between what he files and what she files could put both of you at greater risk for an audit.

3. Your separation agreement correctly specifies spousal support. If it does not and you get audited, alimony could get disallowed. If you have not done so already, take the opportunity to verify that your separation agreement correctly specifies spousal support.

4. You get professional post-divorce support. You will need it anyway for any number of other issues. Analyzing spousal support and filing taxes correctly are just two of them.

5. Avoid pushing the envelope on this issue. It is simply not worth the additional aggravation. 

(a version of this post appeared on boston.com)