If you are claiming deductible support payments, enter on line 21999 of your tax return the total amount of support payments you paid under all court orders and written agreements. This includes any non-deductible child support payments you made. Do not include amounts you paid that are more than the amounts specified in the order or agreement, such as pocket money or gifts that you sent directly to your children.
Enter on line 22000 of your tax return the deductible part of the support payments that you paid.
Make sure that both line 21999 and line 22000 are filled out correctly to avoid your claim being delayed or denied.
You also have to register your court order or written agreement with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Lucky client, having two ex’s. I report total child and spousal support and show the child support as the non-deductible amount. CRA won’t allow a deduction of spousal support unless the child support is up-to-date. The T1 includes the total paid and the deductible amount so I think CRA wants to know that information.
If your court order or written agreement includes a payment of spousal support, you must register it with the CRA. This will allow the CRA to verify the part of your payments that is spousal support and, if applicable, the part that is child support. You will also avoid unnecessary delays and adjustments to your tax return.
Notify the CRA if the spousal or child support payable changes (other than cost-of-living adjustments or changes already stated in the court order or written agreement).
Is there an area in Represent a client where I can verify if taxpayer has registered written agreement with CRA or is this confirmed with taxpayer?
Yes - usually a memo or something in TaxCycle. If they don’t know the breakdown of the amounts, and don’t want to deal with CRA questioning it later, I get them to give me a copy of the actual agreement, so I can enter the correct amounts in TaxCycle.
I know that taxpayers and taxpreparers wonder why to bother recording the non-deductible child support when it is the only support being paid.
I have seen a case where doing that has burnt my client, so I always take the extra step of reporting child support even if there is no spousal support.
The case… the ex took the payer to court after the child had grown up and claimed that child support had not been paid. The courts sided with the recipient of the support, and required that the payer pay the missing amount.
So just because it isn’t deductible does not mean that it isn’t important.
Confirmed with taxpayer - completed T1158Registration of Family Support Payment and agreement sent to CRA in previous year.
In addition, they submitted T1213Request to Reduce Tax Deductions at Source in previous years.
Instructions of this form state:
• You must make this request every year. This is because a deduction or a credit must be reviewed by the CRA to ensure it will generate a refund, based on your income for this year, before an approval can be provided. • If your deductible support payments stay the same or increase from one year to the next, you can make this request every two years by providing a form for each year.
I’ll mention to taxpayer T1213 must be submitted every one to two years (as mentioned above) depending on their circumstances.
I’ve never seen or used a T1213. Who do they submit it to - their employer or CRA directly? Or is it something their employer must submit to CRA? I’m guessing that the instruction, “You must make this request every year…” omits the assumed, “…if you want your employer to override the standard calculation for payroll source deductions…” ?
This form is completed by taxpayer and submitted to Revenue Canada. If approved, the taxpayer gives to employer to have taxes reduced at source (instead of getting a large refund in Apr). I was under the impression that it had to be done annually though.
