Is Alimony Still Taxable After 2018 for Modified Divorce Agreements?

The tax treatment of alimony changed significantly after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but your situation has a clear answer based on what you've shared. If your original divorce agreement was from 2016 (before 2019), and your recent modification in 2025 does NOT contain specific language stating that "the repeal of the deduction for alimony payments applies to the modification," then you can still deduct your alimony payments. The key here is that for pre-2019 agreements that get modified, the modification must EXPRESSLY state that the new rules apply. If there's no statement about deductibility in the modification, then the original tax treatment continues - meaning it remains deductible for you and taxable income for your ex-spouse. This is actually one of those rare situations where silence in a legal document works in your favor with the IRS.

I went through this exact same situation last year and was totally confused. After spending hours on the phone with the IRS and getting nowhere, I used https://taxr.ai to upload my divorce documents and modification agreement. Their AI analyzed all the documents and explained that since my modification didn't expressly mention the tax change, I could still claim the deduction. The site gives you a clear analysis of your specific tax situation based on your actual documents. For complicated tax situations like alimony changes, having something actually review your specific documents makes a huge difference rather than trying to interpret general advice. I was able to confidently take my deduction and even got documentation to support it in case of an audit.

I need to follow up on my skeptical comment about AI tax services. I decided to try https://taxr.ai with my own divorce modification from 2023 and was really surprised. The system actually found a clause in my modification that I didn't realize could be interpreted as changing the tax treatment! It highlighted specific language about "conforming to current statutes regarding taxation of support payments" that my lawyer had included. According to the analysis, this could potentially be interpreted by the IRS as expressly adopting the new rules. I took this information to my accountant who agreed that it was a grey area, and we decided to file conservatively by not taking the deduction. Without this review, I might have incorrectly claimed a deduction that could have triggered an audit. Sometimes being skeptical leads to learning something new!

After struggling to talk to someone at the IRS about this exact alimony issue for weeks (constant busy signals and disconnects), I used https://claimyr.com to get through to a human at the IRS. There's a video of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Claimyr basically waits on hold with the IRS for you and calls you when an agent is actually on the line. I was able to speak directly with an IRS agent who confirmed that since my modification didn't specifically mention adopting the new tax rules, I could continue to deduct alimony payments under my pre-2018 agreement. Getting that confirmation directly from the IRS gave me much more confidence than just guessing based on my interpretation of the tax code.

I have to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I was still struggling with an IRS issue related to my alimony payments and decided to try it out of desperation. Not only did I get through to the IRS (after trying for almost a month on my own), but the agent I spoke with was actually knowledgeable about the alimony tax law changes. She confirmed that modifications to pre-2019 agreements need EXPLICIT language adopting the new tax treatment, or the old rules still apply. I was able to get my specific questions answered and even had the agent note my account with details about our conversation. This saved me from paying an accountant for a formal tax opinion, which would have cost hundreds of dollars. Sometimes being proven wrong is actually a good thing!

One important thing nobody's mentioned yet - make sure you're keeping good records of all payments! The IRS requires you to report the SSN of the recipient spouse on your tax return when claiming the alimony deduction. Also, remember that for alimony to be deductible (under the pre-2019 rules that still apply to your case), payments must meet specific requirements: - Payments must be in cash (including checks or money orders) - Payments must be required by the divorce or separation instrument - The instrument must not designate the payment as something other than alimony - You and your ex-spouse can't be members of the same household when payments are made - There's no liability to make payments after the death of the recipient spouse - The payments aren't treated as child support I learned this the hard way when I got audited in 2022 for alimony deductions from 2019.

Has anyone considered putting an addendum in their modification to explicitly state that you want to keep the old tax treatment? My attorney suggested adding language like: "Both parties agree that this modification does not expressly state that the repeal of the alimony deduction under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act applies to this modification, and therefore the original tax treatment of alimony payments as deductible by the payor and includible in the income of the recipient shall continue." Would that be helpful or create more problems?

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation where my 2017 divorce agreement was modified in 2024, and like the original poster, our modification is silent on tax treatment. Reading through everyone's experiences, it sounds like I should be able to continue deducting my alimony payments since there's no explicit language in the modification adopting the new tax rules. But I'm curious - has anyone here actually been through a tax season filing this way and had any issues with the IRS? Also, @Rudy Cenizo, that addendum language your attorney suggested is brilliant. I wish I had thought of that before we finalized our modification. For anyone else reading this who hasn't modified yet, definitely consider adding that protective language! One question for the group - if I continue taking the deduction based on the silence in my modification, should I attach any documentation to my tax return explaining the situation, or just file normally and keep the divorce documents in case of questions later?

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm in a very similar situation - divorced in 2015, modified the agreement in 2024 with no mention of tax implications. After reading everyone's experiences, I feel much more confident about continuing to take the deduction. What really stands out to me is how consistent everyone's advice has been: if the modification doesn't explicitly state that the new tax rules apply, then the original pre-2019 treatment continues. The IRS seems to have written this rule pretty clearly - they require express language, not implied or assumed changes. For anyone else in this situation, I'd recommend: 1. Keep copies of both your original divorce decree AND the modification 2. Make sure your ex-spouse understands they still need to report the payments as income 3. Consider adding protective language to any future modifications (like @Rudy Cenizo suggested) 4. Keep detailed records of all payments It's frustrating that the IRS publications aren't clearer about this, but based on everyone's real-world experiences here, it seems like we're interpreting the law correctly. Thanks to everyone who shared their stories - it's so much more helpful than trying to decode tax publications alone!