Your 2025 Tax Return: What to Know and Why It Is Important in Child/Spousal Support Cases and Divorce Court

As tax season approaches it is important for you to begin gathering your tax documents. The earlier you gather your documents and make decisions about filing your return, the quicker your tax return will be processed, filed, and paid if entitled to a refund. Tax returns are very important documents needed for both support and divorce court and they provide a significant amount of information about income, expenses and tax liabilities. Monday, Jan. 26, 2026 is the earliest date the IRS will begin accepting tax returns for 2025. In determining whether parties should file a joint income tax return as opposed to separate returns, parties should always consider that a joint income tax return will usually result in less taxes due. But in some circumstances, such as if one spouse is self-employed and income or expenses needs to be verified, a separate return may be necessary for support litigation. Remember, if you are divorced by Dec. 31, 2025 parties may not file a joint income tax return for the 2025 tax year.

Documents that need to be gathered have become more complicated with payment for services made through various cash apps such as ApplePay, Venmo and CashApp. Although the standard W-2 and 1099 might be easy to remember when preparing a tax return, filers should also be aware of the rules regarding payments from third-party payment apps. If you have earned money from selling goods, including an online marketplace, or you provide a service, including ride share such as Uber, or you are paid through a third-party app for any other job, this may be taxable income and must be reported on your tax return. Payments through various cash apps are required to send you a 1099-K if you receive over $20,000 and had more than 200 transactions in a calendar year. Such payments for goods and services will be considered reportable income. This was a significant change from 2024 under the One Big Beautiful Bill that became effective for the tax filing year 2025.

As in previous years, payments received for personal gifts or reimbursements for shared expenses such as rent or meals are not considered taxable income and do not need to be reported. Keeping accurate records including a separate business account and labeling transactions that are personal reimbursements will assist tax filers in accurately reporting the IRS business-related income. Family law litigants should always request third-party cash app information in discovery to properly include unreported income that may not qualify as reportable income under the threshold but nonetheless will be includible for support purposes.