Support for children and support for spouses used to be treated differently under federal tax law. Support for children is not treated as income to the parent who receives it and the parent who pays it cannot subtract it from their income when computing their tax bill.
Support for spouses used to be just the opposite. The party who received had to include it in their income when computing their tax bill and the party who paid it could subtract it from their income when calculating their tax obligation.
The law has since changed and now spousal support is treated the same way as child support. However, agreements and court orders made before the date specified in the amending statute are unaffected.
