As a rule, you must report the support payments you received in 2023 under a written agreement or a judgment, if you received them as an allowance payable periodically for your benefit or the benefit of your child and you were not living with the payer at the time the payments were made. However, if you are covered by the measures under which child support is non-taxable for the recipient and non-deductible for the payer, see “Tax treatment of child support” below and complete Work Chart 142.

Repayment of support

If you made support payments that you deducted on line 225 of your income tax return for a previous year, but an amount was repaid to you in 2023 further to a court order, the repayment may be subject to a tax adjustment. Enter the repayment on line 142 and see “Tax adjustment” in the instructions for line 443.

Tax treatment of child support

In general, child support paid under a written agreement entered into or a judgment rendered after April 30, 1997, cannot be deducted by the person who made the payments and does not have to be included in the income of the person who received them.

Payments received under the support-payment collection program

If we paid you a taxable amount in 2023 as child support or as support for your benefit only, enter it on line 142. If the amount paid to you as support is non-taxable, complete Work Chart 142. See “Support-payment arrears” below if any portion of the amount you received constitutes arrears.

Non-taxable support owing to you on December 31, 2022 (line 2 of Work Chart 142)

On line 2 of Work Chart 142, enter the non-taxable amount of support that you should have received for 1997 through 2022 but had not received by December 31, 2022. If you completed Work Chart 142 in 2022 and the amount on line 5 was negative, enter that amount on line 2 of Work Chart 142 for 2023.

Carry-forward of non-taxable support (line 5 of Work Chart 142)

If the amount on line 5 of Work Chart 142 is negative (that is, if the amount of child support that you should have received is greater than the amount that you actually received), you will have to take the difference into account in your 2024 income tax return.

Support-payment arrears

If you received support-payment arrears that you are required to include in your income, enter them on line 142. The amount of support-payment arrears you include on line 142 may be subject to a tax adjustment. See "Tax adjustment" in the instructions for line 443.

For more information, see brochure IN-128-V, The Tax Effects of Separation and Divorce.