There is a 3.8% surtax on investment income for single or head of household filers with adjusted gross incomes above $200,000, for married filing jointly filers with adjusted gross incomes above $250,000 and for married filing single filers with adjusted gross incomes above $125,000. Net Investment Income (NII) includes any investment interest, passive income, royalties, rental income, annuities, long term and short term capital gains and most other types of unearned income except for distributions from qualified retirement plans. This surtax is in addition to any other federal tax paid on those types of investment income. This surtax is imposed under the health care legislation passed by Congress in 2010. If applicable, Support 2024 will calculate and apply this NII surtax to a party’s federal tax. Investment income susceptible to the NII surtax is entered into the appropriate data entry boxes in the tabbed Income and Deductions data entry popup for each party.

Tax credits are different than standard deductions and personal exemption deductions in that tax credits are applied against taxes owed after actual taxes are calculated. In most cases these tax credits can not exceed the amount of taxes owed, although there are exceptions. 

Child Tax Credits: Support 2024 will give individuals a tax credit of $2000 for each claimed child under the age of 17 by the end of the tax year. For the 2024 tax filing year, these Child Tax Credits now fade out at adjusted gross income levels above $200,000 for Head of Household, Single or Married Filing Separate tax status filers, and at adjusted gross incomes above $400,000 for Married Filing Jointly tax status filers. For every $1000 that an individual's adjusted gross income exceeds these fade out thresholds, the total potential combined Child Tax Credit available is reduced by $50.

An Additional Child Tax Credit may be available when potential Child Tax Credits exceed the individual's Federal tax obligation. When there are three or more children, the Additional Child Tax Credit can exceed the amount of Federal taxes owed up to the amount of Federal taxes and FICA owed minus any Earned Income Credit received. An Additional Child Tax Credit is also be available up to the amount of the potential available tax credit that does not exceed 15% of the party's earned income in excess of $2,500. Support 2024 will give both the Child Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit where applicable. The maximum Additional Child Tax Credit is $1700 per child.

Child Care/Dependent Care Tax Credits: Support 2024 will apply any Child Care Tax Credits to the Federal tax calculation. These credits are applied when a parent has incurred child day care expenses such that the parent can work or look for work. Support 2024 will not apply this credit to a non-custodial parent. A custodial parent may take this credit even if the tax exemptions for the child(ren) have been given to the non-custodial parent. After entering the amount of child care paid by each party, a user must also enter the number of children that qualify for this credit. The program checks to make sure that this credit is available to the party paying the child care amount and the program will give a warning if the user entry seems incorrect.

Depending on income, a sliding credit percentage of 20% to 35% is applied against total child care expenses of up to $3,000 for one dependent or up to $6,000 of total child care expenses for two or more dependents. The maximum credit is 35% of child care expenses when adjusted gross income is $15,000 or less. The 20% credit applies to child care expenses when adjusted gross income exceeds $43,000. A Child Care Tax Credit is not a refundable credit, as it can not exceed the amount of Federal taxes owed.

Earned Income Credits: Support 2024 will not automatically apply an Earned Income Credit. However, you may want to see the impact of an Earned Income Credit to a parent’s tax calculation especially in regards to the program’s alimony recommendations.

For the 2024 Tax Year, an Earned Income Credit is available for single, head household or married filing jointly taxpayers who work and have earned income under $18,591 with no qualifying children ($25,511 if married filing jointly), or earned income under $49,084 with one qualifying child ($56,004 if married filing jointly), or earned income under $55,768 with two qualifying children ($62,688 if married filing jointly), or earned income under $59,899 with three or more children ($66,819 if married filing jointly).

The Earned Income Credit is a refundable credit in that it can exceed the amount of taxes owed. For those in lower income brackets with qualifying children, this credit can be several thousand dollars. For the 2024 Tax Filing Year, the maximum amount of the Earned Income Credit for a filer with no children is $632, but with one qualifying child the maximum credit is $4,213, with two qualifying children the maximum credit it $6,960 and with three or more qualifying children the maximum credit is $7,830.

If you wish to add an Earned Income Credit to a parent's tax calculation you must first check the "Calculate Earned Income" checkbox under the "Fed Tax Credits & Deductions" tab of the "Enter Income & Deductions" data entry popup. If you check the "Calculate Earned Income Credit" checkbox, the program requests that you additionally enter the number of qualifying children to apply for the credit. A qualifying child, for the Earned Income Credit, is a child that has resided with the parent for at least one half of the tax year. For the 2024 tax year, an Earned Income Credit is not allowed if a taxpayer has more than $11,600 of investment income or is "Married Filing Separately".


Other Tax Credits: Support 2024 will only calculate Child Tax Credits, Child Care Tax Credits and the Earned Income Credit. If you wish to apply other tax credits to a parent's tax calculation, you can enter any other tax credit directly under the "Fed Tax Credits & Deductions" tab of the "Enter Income & Deductions" data entry popup. This may include the $500 tax credit for each non-child dependent. Except for the Earned Income Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit, the total of all tax credits can not exceed the amount of Federal taxes owed.

In Kentucky to get a split family custodial child support calculation, a separate child support calculation is completed for each separate split family, as if the other family did not exist, and then the results are combined to determine the net child support obligation transfer. This is called the dual worksheet method.  Support 2024 for Kentucky automatically will generate two child support worksheets when running a split custody case. 

In Florida, for a split custody case, you can run an adjustment using the “Winters v. Katseralis” method. This method for adjusting child support in split custody cases was outlined in a 1993 Fla. 2d DCA decision. The “Winters v. Katseralis” method takes the simple ratio of the number of children per parent, and applies that ratio to the child support obligation for each parent as if all the children were in one family. The transfer is the difference between the two parent’s obligations. Support 2024 for Florida also gives the option to use the dual worksheet method for a split custody case adjustment.

The Washington Child Support Schedule neither directly addresses shared nor split custody cases. The version of Support 2024 for Washington, consequently, offer several methods for calculating split child custody cases. In Washington, the generally accepted method to conduct a split family child support calculation is using the "Arvey" method. This method for adjusting child support in split custody cases was first outlined in a 1995 appellate decision (77 Wn App 817, 1995). The "Arvey" method takes the simple ratio of the number of children per parent, and applies that ratio to the child support obligation for each parent as if all the children were in one family. It then subtracts the difference between the two parent’s obligation to calculate the transfer. Support 2024 for Washington also gives the option to use the dual worksheet method. for a split custody case adjustment.  

In Maryland, to get a split family custodial child support calculation, you need to run two separate worksheets, one for each separate family, and then combine the results of the child support obligation of each parent for each family. Support 2024 automatically will generate two worksheets when running a split custody case in Maryland.

The methods used to calculate child support for shared custody cases vary by state.

As of 10/1/2008, Michigan has abandoned the concepts of split or shared custody.  For purposes of child support, all cases in Michigan are now evaluated by the number of overnights a child or children spend in each parent's household. In Michigan, all calculations, regardless of overnights, now use the "Sum of Days to the 2.5 power" formula applied to the number of overnights for each parent. These new guidelines are incorporated into Support 2024 for Michigan.

The Florida State Child Support Guidelines provides direction for shared custody cases. In shared custody cases for Florida, the basic support amount provided by the guideline tables is multiplied by 1.5. Then the ratio of the number of each child’s residential days with each parent is multiplied against the other parent’s child support obligation. Then the parents’ individual obligations are subtracted from one another to determine the transfer. 

Kentucky is now (as of March 2023) using a "Bracketed Sum of Day Squared" shared custody calculation. This new adjustment is essentially a "Sum of Days Squared" method but overnights are bracketed and the adjustment factor is an average taken from the middle of each bracket.

The Washington Child Support Schedule neither directly addresses shared nor split custody cases. The version of Support 2024 for Washington consequently, offer two methods for calculating shared custody cases. Support 2024 for Washington allows you to use either the "Sum of Days Squared" method, or the "Sum of Days" method. The "Sum of Days" method is similar to what is done with the "Arvey " method for split family cases in Washington. In the simple "Sum of Days" method, the ratio of the number of each child’s residential days per each parent is multiplied against the other parent’s child support obligation, and then subtracted from each other to determine the transfer. We feel that the "Sum of Days Squared" ratio or the "Sum of Days to the 2.5 Power" ratio, as used in Michigan, is a better adjustment for shared custody cases, although there appears to be very little case law in Washington to support either method.

In Maryland shared custody cases, 1.5 times the base child support is applied to a "Sum of Days" formula. In the simple "Sum of Days" formula, the ratio of the number of each child’s residential days with each parent is multiplied against the other parent’s child support obligation, and then subtracted from each other to determine the net transfer. Support 2024 will run this shared custody calculation using the Maryland shared custody worksheet. There is now an additional base support multiplier that is applied if a parent has 92 (25%) to 109 ( 30% ) of the shared overnights with the children.

All fields with red color lettering within the data entry express screen will need to be entered to run a maintenance/alimony recommendation. Click on the pink "Show Maintenance Recommendation" command button to run a maintenance case.

In a case where you feel a maintenance award may be appropriate, the issue arises as to whether or not a maintenance award for the current marriage under consideration should be calculated before child support. Moreover, there is also the issue if the new maintenance award should be carried forward as income deductions/additions for the parents in the current child support calculation.

The Support 2024 version for Washington and Florida now provides two different calculation default settings in regards to the sequencing of the maintenance and child support calculations. The program user has the option to sequence the calculations in either direction. The accepted practice in Washington and Florida seems to be to apply any maintenance award from the current marriage as an income deduction for the payer and as an income addition to the claimant (applying the potential tax implications) when calculating child support.

To select the sequencing setting, click on the "Calculation Default Setting" menu at the top of the Data Express Screen, and then click on "Sequencing" to select your preferred sequencing method. Of course, you do not need to necessarily run a maintenance calculation, if all you want is a child support calculation. The program assumes that there is no current maintenance award if there is no entry in the current maintenance data entry field on the Data Express Screen.

In Kentucky and Maryland, the normal procedure is to award maintenance before doing a child support calculation, consequently in the Support 2024 versions for Kentucky and Maryland, a maintenance calculation is carried forward into the child support portion of the program, and the option of selecting a different sequencing of calculations, as in the Washington and Florida versions, is not enabled.