I may get a judgment for unpaid alimony and child support - How does the IRS treat this?

The tax treatment of the judgment will follow the same rules as if the payments had been made on time - the judgment doesn't change the underlying nature of the debt. For the child support portion ($22,000), that money is never taxable to you as the recipient and never deductible by your ex regardless of when you divorced. Child support is always tax-neutral. For the alimony portion ($15,000), the tax treatment depends entirely on when your divorce agreement was finalized. Since you mentioned 2019, that's important - the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changed the rules. For divorces finalized after December 31, 2018, alimony is NOT taxable income to you and NOT deductible by your ex. However, if your divorce was finalized before January 1, 2019, then the old rules would apply (taxable to you, deductible for them). The judgment itself doesn't change these classifications - the money retains its original tax character whether paid voluntarily or via judgment enforcement.

I went through something similar with my ex not paying support for years. I was completely lost trying to figure out the tax implications when I finally got a judgment. What helped me was using https://taxr.ai to analyze my divorce decree and judgment documents. I uploaded my court docs, and it broke down exactly how the judgment would be treated for tax purposes - separated the child support (not taxable) from the alimony portions and explained how the tax rules applied based on my specific divorce timing. It also flagged some potential issues with how the judgment was worded that could have caused problems with the IRS later. The tool even created a personalized reference document I could keep for my records explaining how to report everything correctly on my taxes. Saved me from making some pretty big mistakes!

I was skeptical about using an automated tool for something this complicated, but I decided to try taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. Honestly, I was surprised at how effective it was for my judgment situation. I uploaded my court judgment (which was for both back child support and alimony like yours), and it correctly identified that my pre-2019 divorce meant the alimony portion was taxable income. It even flagged that interest on the judgment has different tax treatment than the principal amounts. What I found most useful was the detailed explanation of how to handle this on my tax return, including which forms I needed and specifically which lines to use. The documentation it generated saved me when the IRS sent a notice questioning the income - I had everything properly documented based on the guidance.

For anyone dealing with the IRS about support payments or trying to get clarification, calling them directly can be incredibly frustrating. I spent 3+ weeks trying to get through to someone who could actually answer questions about judgment treatment for child support vs. alimony. I finally discovered https://claimyr.com and their service completely changed my experience. They basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is about to answer. I got through to an actual IRS specialist who could answer my specific questions about judgment income. There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I wish I'd known about this sooner instead of wasting hours on hold or getting disconnected. The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed exactly what I needed to know about reporting judgment income from different support types.

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After waiting on hold for nearly 3 hours yesterday and getting disconnected right when I thought I was about to talk to someone, I decided to try the Claimyr service mentioned here out of pure frustration. I was completely skeptical, but it actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back when an agent was ready, and finally got clear answers about how to report my judgment on my tax return. The IRS agent confirmed that judgment payments retain their original character (child support vs. alimony) and directed me to the specific publications that covered my situation. After weeks of frustration, I finally have the documentation I need. I'm still surprised this worked - saved me from taking another afternoon off work to deal with the IRS phone system.

One thing nobody has mentioned yet - make sure you keep extremely detailed records of when and how you receive these judgment payments. In my experience, judgment payments often come irregularly and sometimes in partial amounts. My ex would sometimes make random payments of odd amounts that didn't match the judgment schedule. This created a nightmare at tax time trying to figure out how much was child support versus alimony for tax purposes. The IRS can ask you to justify these amounts if they audit you. I ended up creating a spreadsheet tracking every payment, the date received, and a calculated allocation between child support (which had priority in my case) and alimony according to my court order. This documentation saved me during an IRS review.

If your ex files bankruptcy, be aware that child support and alimony debts are NOT dischargeable in bankruptcy! I learned this when my ex tried to claim they didn't have to pay the judgment after filing Chapter 7. The bankruptcy court specifically excluded the support judgment from discharge, and we were able to continue collection efforts even during the bankruptcy process. Tax-wise, this became relevant because we received a large lump sum payment after the bankruptcy that included interest, which has different tax treatment than the base support amounts.

Based on my experience with a similar situation, the interest on judgments for support payments is treated differently from the underlying support amounts for tax purposes. Interest income is generally taxable to the recipient regardless of whether the principal support amounts are taxable. So in your case, any interest that accrues on the $37,000 judgment would likely be taxable income to you, even though the child support portion ($22,000) isn't taxable and the alimony portion ($15,000) may not be taxable due to your 2019 divorce timing. The IRS treats judgment interest as investment income, not as support payments. This means you'd report it on Schedule B of your 1040 as interest income. Keep detailed records separating the principal amounts from any interest awarded, as you'll need to report them differently. Also worth noting - if your state adds interest or penalties to the judgment, those typically follow the same tax treatment as regular interest income. Your court judgment should specify how much of the total award is principal versus interest/penalties.