Question to an expert
I received several years of alimony late, is this likely to penalize me in terms of tax?
Support payments received are generally to be declared for the year of their collection – those received in 2022 must therefore appear in the 2022 income tax return, completed in 2023.
But if, for reasons beyond your control, several installments relating to previous years are paid to you during the same year, late, you can opt for the “quotient” system, specifies a ministerial response published at the beginning of May Official newspaper. The government had been questioned on this subject by the deputy (Horizons) Cendra Motin (Isère).
This special taxation mechanism, provided for exceptional or deferred income, prevents the massive collection of pensions from having an adverse effect on the progressivity of income tax. And to lower the reference tax income taken into account for the allocation of certain tax or social benefits.
This must be requested when declaring the year of collection of pension arrears.
Without going into the details of the calculation, here is an example for a divorced mother living alone with a dependent child and 35,000 euros of declared income. In 2021, she also received 15,000 euros in pensions – 5,000 euros due for 2021 and 10,000 euros paid for 2019 and 2020. With the normal calculation, her tax for 2021 would have been 3,666 euros, compared to approximately 2,740 euros with the quotient system.