510
edits
Changes
→Calculating income
The basic rule here is that a party's income for the purposes of the Guidelines is the amount stated at line 15000 of the payor's most recent tax return, although there are important exceptions that apply when a person's income is from self-employment. A party's income includes all of the party's income, not just income from a job. ''Income'' might include bonuses, overtime, rental income, profit from stock options, company dividends, Workers' Compensation payments, long- and short-term disability payments, personal injury awards that relate to loss of income, pension income, government benefits, interest from an investment, and so forth, as well as employment and self-employment income.
Section 2(3) of the Guidelines requires that the most current income information be used; this can include a calculation of income based on paystub evidence. Most of the time income is based on the most recent tax year, since the income information for that year is complete. This means that there is usually a one-year lag between the amount of support being paid and the payor's income. The amount of support paid in 2023 will be based on income earned and reported in 2022, and the amount paid in 2024, will be based on income from 2023. However, if a payor's current income can be known with certainty, such as if the payor is an employee who doesn't get bonus or commission income, child support can be determined using the payor's current income.
===Government benefits===