Net Income for Florida Child Support: The Seven Deductions the Statute Allows and the Ones It Does Not

Every Florida child support calculation starts with the same question: what is each parent's net monthly income? Not take-home pay, not adjusted gross income on a tax return, and not whatever is left after the mortgage. Net income for child support is a defined term, and section 61.30(3) defines it as gross income minus a short list of allowable deductions.

Get the list right and the rest of the worksheet is arithmetic. Get it wrong and every line after it is wrong.

Start with gross income

Section 61.30(2)(a) casts a wide net. Gross income includes salary and wages, bonuses, commissions, allowances, overtime and tips, business income (gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses), disability benefits, workers' compensation, unemployment, pension and retirement payments, Social Security benefits, spousal support received, interest and dividends, rental income net of expenses, royalties, trust income, and recurring gains from dealing in property. Military pay includes BAH and BAS.

If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, section 61.30(2)(b) has the court impute income based on recent work history, occupational qualifications, and prevailing earnings in the community. Imputation is its own fight and deserves its own post. For today, assume the gross figure is settled.

The seven allowable deductions

Section 61.30(3) allows exactly these:

1. Federal, state, and local income tax deductions, adjusted for actual filing status and allowable dependents and income tax liabilities. Florida has no state income tax, so for most Florida parents this is federal only. The figure is the tax actually owed on the income, not the withholding on the paystub, which can be higher or lower.
2. Federal insurance contributions or self-employment tax. Social Security and Medicare, or the self-employment equivalent.
3. Mandatory union dues.
4. Mandatory retirement payments. Mandatory is the operative word. A required contribution to the Florida Retirement System counts. A voluntary 401(k) deferral does not, no matter how long the parent has been making it.
5. Health insurance payments, excluding payments for coverage of the minor child. The parent's own premium comes off here. The children's premium does not; it goes on line 5b of the worksheet and is shared between the parents.
6. Court-ordered support for other children which is actually paid. Two conditions: there has to be an order, and it has to be paid. An informal arrangement to help with a child from another relationship does not qualify, and an order that is not being paid does not qualify either.
7. Spousal support paid pursuant to a court order from a previous marriage or the marriage before the court.

What is not on the list

Everything else. Car payments, rent, the mortgage, student loans, credit cards, voluntary retirement contributions, life insurance premiums, charitable giving, and the cost of supporting a new spouse or stepchildren are not deductions from gross income. They may be relevant to a deviation argument under section 61.30(11)(a), but they do not move the net income figure on line 1.

This is where most self-prepared worksheets go wrong. The paystub shows a net figure after a 401(k) deferral, an HSA contribution, and a garnishment, and that figure gets copied onto the worksheet. The court will not accept it.

Where the Financial Affidavit comes in

The worksheet does not ask you to compute net income from scratch. Line 1 of Form 12.902(e) says to enter the amount from line 27, Section I of the Financial Affidavit, Form 12.902(b) or (c). The affidavit walks through gross income by source and then the section 61.30(3) deductions in the same order the statute lists them.

That means the affidavit is the document that matters. It is sworn, it is filed, and it is what the other side will cross-examine. A parent whose affidavit understates gross income or overstates deductions has a credibility problem before the support hearing begins.

Two recurring disputes

The tax deduction. The statute allows the tax deduction "adjusted for actual filing status and allowable dependents." A parent who claims the children on their return pays less tax and therefore has a smaller deduction and a higher net income. The dependency exemption is also a deviation factor under section 61.30(11)(a)(8). These interact, and they are often negotiated together.

Self-employment. Gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses is the standard, but "ordinary and necessary" is not what the parent's accountant deducted for tax purposes. Depreciation, personal vehicle use, a home office, and payments to family members are the usual battlegrounds.

Running the numbers

Once each parent's net income is settled, the rest of the guidelines calculation is mechanical. Our Florida child support calculator takes the net figures, the overnight counts, and the child care and health insurance costs, and produces the worksheet line by line. It cannot tell you what the court will accept as a deduction. That is the part that requires the statute, the affidavit, and usually a lawyer.

Steven C. Fraser, Esq., Florida Bar No. 625825, Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator No. 37256 CFR. Jacksonville, Florida. 877-862-7188.