Another type of income that requires special attention is if you earn corporate income. If you earn income through a corporation, child support calculations become more complex.

If you have a controlling interest in a corporation, you may have to include some or all of the pre-tax income of the corporation or any corporation that's related to your corporation in this most recent tax year. Or you may have to include an amount that fairly reflects the services you provide to the corporation to a maximum of the corporation's pre-tax income.

When you control a corporation, you have significant flexibility in deciding how much money to take out versus keeping in the company. You also have flexibility in terms of some of the payments of salaries, benefits, and what you classify as business expenses.

The law accepts reasonable business expenses and salaries. However, decisions made primarily for tax planning purposes might count toward your income for support calculations. The key distinction is whether expenses serve legitimate business purposes or mainly benefit your tax situation.

If you're a professional who has earned money for your corporation but decided to keep it in the company for tax purposes, some of those earnings might count as your income for support purposes. This doesn't mean you have to actually withdraw the money – just that your support will be calculated as if you did.

Money that's held by a company that is reasonable and necessary to keep the business going and growing is fine, but money held in the company to avoid the payment of tax, which is a perfectly legitimate decision from a business and tax perspective, just might be attributed to you as income for the purposes of support.

If money is available to you but you choose to save it or shelter it from tax, that's okay. However, since it's available income, your child support and spousal support calculations should reflect these amounts being included in your income.

Corporate income situations are complex and highly specific to individual circumstances. If you control a corporation, you should:

These professionals can help you navigate the intersection of business, tax, and family law to ensure fair and legally compliant support calculations.