**Tax Year 2018 or earlier** I use a portion of my spousal support to pay the mortgage, taxes and insurance on the house I live in which is 100% in my ex's name. Is this portion non-taxable?

[rachelanne912]

Tax law says that payments to keep up the payors property are not alimony. Since I pay a significant portion of my spousal support to pay my ex's mortgage (even though I live there) is this portion considered alimony? Is it taxable? If not, can I deducted those payments from my total alimony received? 

[Carl]

We can't interpret how the court has defined any payments you receive. All I can tell you for a fact is that Alimony is reportable/taxable income to the recipient, and tax deductible for the payer. Child support is not. In most cases I'm aware of (and it's not that many) the only difference between "alimony" and "spousal support" is the spelling, thus making it reportable/taxable income to the recipient. I would suggest you take your court documents to a local tax attorney for clarity. That way, you have someone you can hold legally liable and financially culpable for the advice you pay them to provide you.

[rachelanne912]

I think my question was misunderstood...if spousal support is used in part to pay the payor's mortgage on the house he 100% owns, is that portion considered alimony or not?

[rachelanne912]

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc452">https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc452</a>  I'm looking for an clarification of the section on what alimony is not and if my situation applies.

[DoninGA]

Does your divorce decree specify any such payments such as mortgage payments?  If not, and you are paying a fixed amount of alimony/spousal support without any stipulations then the payment is taxable to the recipient and deductible by the payer.

[Opus 17]

You are correct that money spent to keep up the payer's own property is not alimony.  However, it depends on the language of the decree.  If it says something like "[spouse 1] shall live in the marital home owned solely by spouse 2, and spouse 2 shall pay the mortgage and property taxes on the home until it is sold or spouse 1 moves out" then it is not alimony.

But if the decree says something like "[spouse 2] shall pay to spouse 1 $$$$ in spousal maintenance. Spouse 1 may live in the marital home provided that spouse 1 pays the bills." then the payment is all alimony and you just happen to be using it to keep living in one home rather than taking the same amount of money and moving to a different home.

Because divorces can be very complicated (and lawyers and judges often don't know or follow federal tax law very well), you may need to have your divorce order reviewed by a tax professional.

[Hal_Al]

If your ex spouse is deducting the payments as alimony and you are not reporting it as income; you will both hear from the IRS and the IRS will end up making that determination.

I'm of the opinion (I'm not a lawyer) that it is alimony unless the decree requires you to specifically use the alimony money to pay the mortgage. The fact that  you may not have sufficient other funds to meet the payment, does not make it not alimony. That is, the provision allowing you to live there, if you make the payments is not specifically tied to the alimony payment.