Proving income. W2, 1099, ???

My ex and I are supposed to prove our income to each other every year for the purposes of checking child support accuracy (per state formula).

I originally wanted to just exchange copies of our W2 forms. Her lawyer said that wasn’t complete enough and wants us to exchange 1040 forms (I guess she thinks I’ve a big investor or something).

I think the 1040 form is over-sharing, and perhaps confusing because it’ll include joint income numbers (we’re both remarried) and joint income is not used to cacluate CS, just individual income.

So - if I offered up that we exchange W2 forms & all 1099 forms, do I cover all income formats or is this also incomplete?

That wouldn’t work. If you (for example) picked up a second job that she didn’t know about, you would get a second W2. If you didn’t show her that second W2 she would have no way of knowing about the extra income. OTOH, it would show up on your 1040.

Also, not that I think you’re a big investor, but if you make money from buying and selling securities, there is no form that shows it. Attached to your 1040 you have to include a Schedule D (IIRC) on which you have to show when you bought the security and for how much, and when you sold it and for how much. AFAIK, the IRS has no straightforward way to check it without an audit, unlike the W-2 or 1099 which must be submitted to them.

If one or the other is that untrustworthy, what would keep someone from making a fake 1040. I do my taxes with TurboTax and it would be trivial for me to do my taxes, make a copy of the file and delete sources of income from the copy.

Is child support based on investment income? It seems strange unearned income is counted. One person spends their money and the other saves/invests and they get punished? Obviously that depends on the divorce agreement but doesn’t seem logical to me.

There’s a form that you can send to the IRS which says “Please send so-and-so a copy of my 1040.” Since they get it from the IRS, that is a higher level of trustworthiness. Sorry I don’t know the number of the form, but I filled it out as part of the financial assistance application for some things I was involved in.

In a case where something like that was suspected, would it be possible for the other persons attorney to get a hold of the copy from the IRS? (ETA that got answered before I hit submit).

Also, regarding the 1040 and individual/joint income, you can bring ALL the W2’s and 1099’s from both of you (you and new wife), show that they match the total on your 1040 and then they can use YOUR’S only to calculate CS. This way they’ll only be using your income, but they can rest assured that you’ve provided all your income (provided your not intentionally hiding anything).

To give you the history…

When she got a new job, she was very hesitant to tell me what she was earning - she’d rather receive CS based on her previous $25k/yr job rather than her new $40k/yr job. I knew she had a new job, I knew it was for significantly more money (she couldn’t resist bragging) but I needed hard numbers to file for a CS modification. She didn’t want to supply it.

The initial divorce process requires that you submit two sequential pay stubs as part of the financial disclosure. When she dragged me back in front of her lawyer to renegotiate the original agreement, I suggest that we exchange two stubs every January to verify income.

Her lawyer suggested that wasn’t good enough (since more than simple job hourly income counts toward CS - including bonuses) so I suggested W2 slips. Her lawyer countered with “The first two pages of the IRS 1040 document”. And that’s where it was left.

In the end, the modified agreement was never filed so there’s no income verification requirement at all but I’m still thinking it’s a good idea.

My wife’s income etc. doesn’t count toward CS calculation but if I received regular dividends from an investment portfolio or something, that would count.

I don’t want to hide any income from her (the ex-) but I don’t want to give up any more info than I have to (just not her business) or confuse her with extra numbers that are ambiguous (rental income for my wife’s house before we were married and moved into it together).

So - what I want is verification of individual income (both directions) with as little extra info as possible, for privacy’s sake.

You’ll either have to work something else out, or consider filing separately, if that works from a fiscal POV.