Alimony third party Payment

cseals10 · ‎January 26, 2020

I have a divorce decree in 2018, that includes alimony as a deduction to income. IN my divorce decree, I am responsible for 67% of my Childs college tuition and my ex-spouse is responsible for 33%. However in 2019, my ex-spouse did not pay any monies toward college tuition and I had to pay it all to keep my son in school. Can I deduct the $9,000 that I paid toward tuition that was my EX responsibility, as a third party payment and include it in the alimony deduction.

Thanks.

Hal_Al · ‎January 26, 2020

No. Alimony is a specific identification item. Extra tuition is just another form of child support and is not deductible.

Side note: if your ex gets to claim the child as a dependent, she also gets to claim the tuition you paid to claim the education credit.

macuser_22 · ‎January 26, 2020

You can only claim tuition if you can claim the child as a dependent. If you are not the custodial parent (where the child physically lived more than half of 2019) or have a signed 8332 form** releasing the dependent to you then you cannot claim the child or tuition.

**the 8332 form only applies to a minor child that has not become an adult in your state (age 18 in most states). After then then the child must have lived with you to claim.

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

Alimony third party Payment

Deductions & credits

Deductions & credits