Divorce, Alimony, and Property Settlements (Before and) After TCJA: A Wholly Different Rodeo
Author: Bradley Burnett
| CPE Credit: |
2 hours for CPAs
2 hours Federal Tax Law Updates for EAs and OTRPs
2 hours Federal Tax Updates for CTEC |
The Tax Cuts Jobs Act rips the alimony deduction out from under some and very much endangers it for others. There's a whole lot more to it than before. Nothing can be taken for granted by the planner or tax preparer. One must know what to look for and move intelligently forward.
Publication Date: September 2019
Topics Covered
- No more deduction for divorce or separation instruments executed after 2018
- But, what does "executed" mean anyway?
- How prior negotiated alimony might be dragged into the soup
- How pre- and post-nups might be drowning in the soup
- How not to get the soup knocked out of you economically
- With dependency exemptions gone, what is the new playing field?
- How property settlements ring so differently than before
- Do old agreements deserve a new look? Oh, how they might
- How the fruit basket has been upset and fruit is flying everywhere
- Don't leave home without knowing how to not get your head handed to you
- Beyond alimony, many other TCJA changes affect divorce
Learning Objectives
- Identify the wholly new playing field for divorce planning in general
- Differentiate the tax compliance challenges which face every tax preparer with divorced, separated, or divorcing clients
- Recognize correct statements regarding the alimony compliance gap
- Identify which state referred to, in this course, mandates mathematical guidelines to compute alimony (i.e., 30-35% of payer's income)
- Identify the new personal exemption subsequent to the TCJA
- Identify a characteristic of a 529 plan vs. paying TCJA kiddie tax for purposes of parent vs. child investing
- Recognize correct statements regarding the new mortgage interest rules
- Identify one of the four basic alimony tests
- Describe which penalty from an income tax rate perspective TCJA largely elminates
- Recognize how TCJA affects filers
Level
Update
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Taxes (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
Basic understanding of divorce, alimony, and property settlements.
Advance Preparation
None
