IRA withdrawal classified as child support

[Nathan75]

I divorced this past year and in legal documents for my divorce decree it is stated that a portion of the IRA money transferred to me was "in consideration of the child support obligation for 2020." I withdrew this money from my IRA. Could this money be considered child support and thus not calculated as income?

[SamS1]

Possibly.  You would need to enter the 1099R received as income but you could  make an adjustment to income for the the amount of monthly child support payments not to exceed the 1099R box 1 amount.  The problem might be if you are under age 59 1/2, as there is no exclusions for the10% early withdrawal penalty for this situation.

[Mike9241]

@SamS1  did you consider the possibility that this is a distribution pursuant to a Qualified Domestic Realations Order?  (QDRO) A QDRO would place the tax responsibilities on the participant despite what the court says they are to be used for.