Guideline Income

Guideline income, as defined in the applicable Child Support and Spousal Support Guidelines, is used to calculate both child and spousal support.

• Initially, guideline income is the total income on a party’s last tax return, line 150
• In addition , the applicable Guidelines allow for additional guideline income to be imputed (added). An example would be excess undistributed business income, personal expenses paid by a business, different tax rates, etc.

if there are significant fluctuations in historic guideline incomes, the legislation allows for averaging

• The resulting guideline income is then applied for both spousal support and child support calculations.

In complex matters, a guideline income expert with an accounting designation is retained to calculate the guideline income.