The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the alimony deduction for payers and the income inclusion for recipients for divorce or separation agreements executed after December 31, 2018. This is one of the most significant family law tax changes in decades. Under prior law, alimony was deductible by the payer and taxable to the recipient - an income-shifting mechanism that benefited higher-earner payers in higher tax brackets. Under TCJA, alimony is nondeductible by the payer and tax-free to the recipient for agreements executed after 2018. The rules that apply depend entirely on when the agreement was signed - not when payments are made.
Pre-2019 agreements (executed on or before December 31, 2018): Old rules still apply. Payer deducts alimony as an above-the-line deduction (Schedule 1, line 19a). Recipient includes alimony in gross income. The agreement date controls - not the year of payment.
Post-2018 agreements (executed after December 31, 2018): TCJA rules apply. Payer receives no deduction. Recipient has no income. Neither party needs to report alimony on their return. This applies to divorces finalized in 2019 and later.
Duration: The TCJA alimony changes are permanent - OBBBA did not restore the prior-law deduction. Post-2018 divorces will permanently follow the new rules.
A pre-2019 divorce agreement that would otherwise be grandfathered under the old rules can lose its grandfather status if it is modified after December 31, 2018 - but only if the modification expressly states that the TCJA rules apply. A modification that is silent on this point continues to be governed by pre-2019 rules. A modification that includes language such as "this modification is subject to the rules of IRC §71 as amended by P.L. 115-97" would trigger new treatment, eliminating the deduction for the payer and the income inclusion for the recipient going forward.
For payments under pre-2019 agreements to qualify as deductible alimony under the old §71 rules, all of the following must be met: the payment must be in cash (not property); the payment must be received by or on behalf of a spouse or former spouse; the payment must be required by a divorce or separation instrument; the parties must not be members of the same household at the time of payment; the parties must not file a joint return; and the obligation to make payments must cease upon the death of the recipient spouse. If the payments would continue after the recipient's death - for a fixed term regardless of death - they are not alimony under old law.
Child support has never been deductible by the payer and has never been includible in the recipient's income. The distinction between alimony and child support matters under both old and new law because mischaracterization affects both parties. Under old law, payments designated as alimony that are reduced upon a child reaching a certain age or event are presumed to be disguised child support and are recharacterized accordingly. Under new law, the distinction matters less for income tax purposes (neither is deductible/includible) but still matters for the recipient's earned income calculation and eligibility for certain credits.
A property settlement - the division of marital assets between divorcing spouses - is neither deductible nor includible income under either the old or new rules. Under IRC §1041, transfers of property between spouses incident to divorce are not treated as taxable events. The transferee spouse takes a carryover basis in the transferred property. The tax consequence of a property settlement occurs when the recipient spouse eventually sells the asset - they recognize gain or loss based on the original carryover basis. High-basis assets and low-basis assets have very different economic values in a divorce settlement, and CPAs should model the after-tax value of each asset class before advising on settlement terms.