Blog Post

CHANGES TO ALL CHILD SUPPORT IN APRIL 2020

Bruce Brown • Mar 26, 2020

Small changes coming in April 2020 to ALL child support with potentially HUGE results!

For all child support payors and recipients of child support, there are changes coming this April. The Superior Court sent out a notice to all employers last month that effective April 1, 2020 the monthly handling fee for the Clearinghouse will increase from $5.00 to $8.00 per month. This means that the handling fee for collecting and distributing monthly child support payments will automatically change, even if you have not been back to court in some time.

So what this mean for you?

Assuming the employer got the memo and takes out $8.00 starting April 1st, the payor should notice three more dollars coming out of their paycheck to cover this increase and the recipient will notice no change.

If the employer does not take out the three additional dollars, then the payor will be automatically $3.00 behind each month in child support because the handling fee is taken out first and the recipient will be shorted three dollars.

The big deal is the child’s tax exemption. The reason: Arizona law states that the allocation between parents for the child’s tax exemption is contingent upon each payor being current at the end of the year on ALL child support payments. So if you are behind three dollars from April through December - or any

combination of months, even ONE DOLLAR - you will lose your right to claim that child as a deduction on taxes!

So payors, be proactive and make sure that you employer knows about the change and takes out $8.00 per month for the handling fees so you do not lose the right to claim the child’s or children’s deduction(s).

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