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Line 156 and 128 - Support payments received

If you are reporting taxable support payments, enter on line 156 of your tax return the total amount of support payments you received under a court order or written agreement. This includes any support payments you received under a social assistance arrangement.

Do not include amounts you received that are more than the amounts specified in the order or agreement, such as pocket money or gifts that your children received directly from the payer.

Enter on line 128 the taxable part of support payments you received.

It is important to ensure that both line 156 and line 128 are completed correctly to avoid a delay in assessing your tax return.

You also may have to register your court order or written agreement. For more information, see Registering your court order or written agreement.

Example
Diane and Gene recently divorced after eight years of marriage. In their court order made in December 2008, Gene was ordered to pay Diane $1,000 per month for their two children until they reach the age of 21, and $500 per month in spousal support.

Monthly support payments of $1,500 began in January, making a total support payment amount of $18,000 for 2009.

Diane enters the total support payments amount of $18,000 on line 156 of her tax return. On line 128, she enters the taxable portion of the support payments she received, which is the spousal support amount of $6,000.

Note
If you received a payment before the end of the year, you have to include it in income for that year, as long as it meets the conditions outlined in What are support patments?. You cannot delay including a payment in income by not cashing the cheque.

Retroactive lump-sum payments

If, after 1977, you received a lump-sum support payment, parts of which were for previous years, you have to report the whole payment in the year the lump-sum payment is received.

However, if the amount that applies to previous years is $3,000 or more (not including interest), you can ask us to tax the parts for the previous years as if they were received in those years.

We will do this for the amount that applies to years throughout which you were resident in Canada, and only if it is to your advantage for tax purposes.

The payer of the support payments should give you a completed Form T1198, Statement of Qualifying Retroactive Lump Sum Payment. Include this form with your tax return to ask us for this special tax calculation on a retroactive lump sum payment. We will tell you the results on your notice of assessment or notice of reassessment.

Reimbursement of support payments

If you repaid support payments because of a court order, you may be able to claim a deduction on line 220 of your tax return for that year (or in either of the following two years). You can claim this deduction if you reported the original support payments you received as income on that same tax return or on a previous year’s tax return, and you have not already claimed a deduction for the repayment.

Legal fees

As a recipient of support payments, you can deduct, on line 232 of your tax return, legal fees you paid to:

collect late support payments;
establish the amount of support payments from your current or former spouse or common-law partner;
establish the amount of support payments from the legal parent of your child (who is not your current or former spouse or common-law partner) where the support is payable under the terms of a court order;
try to get an increase in support payments; or
try to make child support non taxable.

You cannot claim legal costs you incurred to:

get a separation or divorce; or
establish custody or visitation rights to a child.

Have you transferred the rights to your support payments?

As a recipient of support payments, you may formally assign or transfer your rights to such payments to your provincial government, in order to receive social assistance. If you have transferred your rights to your support payments, report the total amounts you received on line 156 (and any taxable part on line 128). These amounts are no longer included in box 11 of Form T5007, Statement of Benefits.

Supporting documents

When you file your tax return, do not include your receipts or cancelled cheques, or your court order or written agreement. Keep them in case we ask to see them.

Forms and publications

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