Where Do You Put Alimony on Your Tax Return?

On a federal return, alimony belongs on Schedule 1 of Form 1040, and the exact line depends on whether you paid or received it and when your divorce or separation agreement was signed. If the agreement was executed on or before December 31, 2018, recipients report payments as income on Part I, Line 2a, and payers claim the deduction in Part II, Line 19a. If the agreement was executed after that date, alimony doesn’t appear on your federal return at all.

The 2019 Cutoff Decides Everything

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created two separate regimes for alimony, split by a single date. For any divorce or separation agreement executed after December 31, 2018, the payer cannot deduct alimony and the recipient does not report it as income.¹ If your agreement falls on that side of the line, there is nothing to enter. The payments are invisible to the IRS.

For agreements executed on or before December 31, 2018, the older rules still control. The payer deducts alimony from gross income, and the recipient includes it as taxable income every year payments continue.² The rest of this article walks through where those entries go.

Where Recipients Enter Alimony Income

If you receive alimony under a pre-2019 agreement, open Schedule 1 (Form 1040) and go to Part I, “Additional Income.” Enter the total amount you received during the year on Line 2a. Line 2b asks for the date of your original divorce or separation agreement.³

The Part I total then flows to Line 8 of Form 1040 and becomes part of your total income, taxed at your ordinary rate.³

One practical point catches recipients off guard. Nobody withholds tax from alimony the way an employer does from a paycheck. If alimony is a significant share of your income, you may need quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid an underpayment penalty at filing.⁴

Where Payers Enter the Alimony Deduction

If you pay alimony under a pre-2019 agreement, the deduction goes on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), Part II, “Adjustments to Income.” It is an above-the-line deduction, so you get it whether or not you itemize.¹

Three lines need entries:

Line 19a: the total alimony you paid during the tax year.
Line 19b: your former spouse’s Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.
Line 19c: the date of your original divorce or separation agreement.³

Your total adjustments from Part II (calculated on Line 26 of Schedule 1) transfer to Line 10 of Form 1040 and reduce your adjusted gross income.³ A lower AGI can ripple through the rest of your return, affecting your bracket and your eligibility for other credits and deductions.

The SSN on Line 19b is not optional. If you leave it blank, the IRS can disallow the entire deduction and add a $50 penalty. A recipient who refuses to provide the SSN faces the same $50 penalty.¹ The IRS uses that number to match what you deducted against what your former spouse reported, so the two returns need to line up.

Only Qualifying Payments Belong on These Lines

Not every payment between former spouses counts as alimony. For pre-2019 agreements, all of the following must be true for a payment to go on Line 2a or Line 19a:⁵

The payment is made in cash, check, or money order. Transfers of property, services, or use of a home or car do not qualify.
The payment is required by a divorce decree, separate maintenance decree, or written separation agreement. Voluntary payments do not qualify.¹
The agreement does not designate the payment as something other than alimony for tax purposes.
If you are legally separated under a decree, you and your former spouse are not members of the same household when payments are made.
Your obligation ends at the recipient’s death, with no requirement to keep paying the estate.
The payment is not treated as child support.

Child support is the trap that catches the most filers. It is never deductible and never taxable, no matter when the agreement was signed. If your alimony amount is scheduled to drop when a child turns a certain age, marries, leaves home, finishes school, or starts working, the IRS treats the reduction as child support from the start.⁵ Report only the alimony portion on Schedule 1.

Modified Pre-2019 Agreements

If a pre-2019 agreement has been modified, the modification can push you into the newer rules, but only if it expressly states that the repeal of the alimony deduction applies to the change.¹ A change in the payment amount by itself does not flip the treatment.⁶ Read any modification carefully before deciding whether alimony still belongs on your Schedule 1.

State Returns May Follow Different Rules

Everything above is federal. Some states conformed to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and treat post-2018 alimony the same way the federal return does. Others did not conform and still require recipients to report the income and allow payers to deduct it, regardless of the agreement date. Check your state’s instructions before assuming the federal treatment carries over.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 452, Alimony and Separate Maintenance
2
Internal Revenue Service. Alimony, Child Support, Court Awards, Damages 1
3
Internal Revenue Service. Schedule 1 (Form 1040) – Additional Income and Adjustments to Income
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504 – Divorced or Separated Individuals – Section: Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax
5
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504 – Divorced or Separated Individuals – Section: Alimony
6
Internal Revenue Service. Divorce or Separation May Have an Effect on Taxes