Most-Overlooked Tax Breaks for the Newly Divorced

Filing Status

Your marital status as of December 31 controls your filing status. So, if you split up but aren't officially divorced before the end of the year, you can still file a joint return (which is likely to save you money) or choose the married-filing-separately status for the tax return you file for the year you separate. You can also file as head of household (and get the benefit of a bigger standard deduction and gentler tax brackets) if you lived apart from your spouse for the last six months of the year, file separate returns, had a dependent living with you for more than half of the year, and paid more than half of the upkeep for your home.

Once you're divorced, you can file as a head of household (if you have a dependent living with you for more than half of the year and you pay for more than half of the upkeep for your home) or as a single taxpayer.

Alimony Payments

You can deduct alimony you pay to an ex-spouse if the divorce agreement was in place before the end of 2018. Otherwise, it's not deductible (or taxable to the recipient). You also lose the deduction if the agreement is changed after 2018 to exclude the alimony from your former spouse's income.

To qualify as deductible alimony, the cash-only payments must be spelled out in your divorce agreement. You're required to report the Social Security number of your ex-spouse, too, so the IRS can make sure he or she reports the alimony as taxable income.

Credits for Children

As a general rule, only the custodial parent (the one the kids live with most of the year) can claim the child tax credit or credit for other dependents for a divorced couple's qualifying children. If you're filing your 2021 tax return, the child tax credit is worth up to $3,600 per child 5 years old and younger, or $3,000 per child 6 to 17 years old. (However, don't forget that you must subtract any advance monthly payments of the credit you received last year from the total credit amount on your 2021 return.) For the 2022 tax year, the credit goes back down to $2,000 per child 16 years old or younger. For either year, children who are too old for the child tax credit may qualify for the credit for other dependents, which can be as high as $500 per qualifying dependent.

What many people don't know is that it's perfectly legal for the noncustodial parent to claim one of these credits for a son or daughter if the other parent signs a waiver agreeing not to claim an exemption for the child on his or her return (which means the custodial parent can't claim the credit). Form 8332 (opens in new tab) must accompany the noncustodial parent's return each year he or she claims the credits for the child. This could make financial sense if the noncustodial parent is in a higher tax bracket.

Medical Expenses of Children

If you continue to pay a child's medical bills after the divorce, you can include those costs in your medical-expense deductions even if your ex-spouse has custody of the child. Medical expenses are deductible only to the extent they exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income, but the child's bills you pay could push you over the 7.5% threshold.

Asset Transfers

When a divorce settlement shifts property from one spouse to another, the recipient doesn't pay tax on that transfer. That's the good news.

But it's important to remember that the property's tax basis shifts as well. Thus, if you get property from your ex in the divorce and later sell it, you will pay capital gains tax on all the appreciation before as well as after the transfer. That's why, when you're splitting up property, you need to consider the tax basis as well as the value of the property. A $100,000 bank account is worth more to you than a $100,000 stock portfolio that has a basis of $50,000. There's no tax on the former, but when you sell the stock, you will owe tax on the $50,000 profit.

Home Sales

If, as part of your divorce, you and your ex decide to sell your home, the timing can have tax consequences. Normally, the law allows you to avoid tax on the first $250,000 of gain on the sale of your primary home if you have owned the home and lived there at least two years out of the last five. Married couples filing jointly can exclude up to $500,000. For sales after a divorce, if the two-year ownership-and-use tests are met, you and your ex can each exclude up to $250,000 of gain on your individual returns.

If the two-year tests haven't been met, sales after a divorce can still qualify for a reduced exclusion. The limit on tax-free profit in this case depends on the portion of the two-year period for which the home was owned and used. If, for example, it was one year instead of two, you each can exclude $125,000 of gain. What happens if you receive the house in the divorce settlement and sell it several years later? Then you're stuck with the $250,000 maximum.

IRA Contribution

Generally, a taxpayer must have earned income from a job or self-employment to qualify to contribute to an IRA. However, there's an exception for some divorced people.

Taxable alimony you receive counts as compensation for the purposes of making IRA contributions. For 2022, you can contribute up to $6,000 to a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, or a combination of the two. If you're at least 50 years old, you can contribute an additional $1,000 for the year. (The IRA contribution limits for 2022 are the same as they were for 2021.)