What Counts as Income for Child Support?

Guidelines generally cast a wide net. Most states count income from essentially any recurring source, not just a paycheck:

• Wages, salary, tips, bonuses, and commissions
• Self-employment and business income (usually net of ordinary business expenses)
• Overtime pay -- though several states count only overtime that is regular and expected, not occasional or one-off
• Rental and investment income, including interest, dividends, and capital gains
• Severance, deferred compensation, and pension or retirement distributions
• Unemployment, workers' compensation, and Social Security disability benefits (which ones count, and how, varies -- see below)
• Military pay, including allowances such as housing and subsistence, which are usually counted even though they aren't federally taxable

A useful rule of thumb: guideline income is broader than taxable income. Something being untaxed, or not appearing on a W-2, is rarely on its own a reason it won't be counted.

• SSI is not the same as SSDI. Supplemental Security Income is a means-tested public-assistance benefit and is generally excluded from income for support purposes and shielded from collection. Social Security Disability Insurance is an earned benefit and is generally counted. The two get confused constantly, and the difference can decide whether an order exists at all.
• A child's derivative benefit. Where a child receives a dependent benefit based on a parent's disability or retirement record, most states credit that payment against that parent's obligation rather than ignoring it -- but the mechanics, and whether any excess is kept or refunded, differ by state.
• Other means-tested benefits. TANF, SNAP, and similar assistance programs are typically excluded.
• A new spouse's income. Generally not counted as the parent's income. It can still matter indirectly -- some states consider household circumstances when deciding whether to deviate from the guideline number, and a new spouse's contribution to shared expenses can surface that way.
• One-time windfalls. Gifts, inheritances, lottery winnings, and legal settlements are handled inconsistently. Some states count them as income in the year received, some treat them as an asset, and some consider only the income the asset produces.

States genuinely split on whether the guideline formula runs on gross income (before taxes and most deductions) or net income (after taxes and specific allowed deductions). This isn't a technicality -- it changes the whole calculation, and it is why plugging a gross figure into a net-income formula produces a badly wrong number rather than a slightly wrong one.

For a salaried parent, income is largely a matter of reading a pay stub. For a business owner, contractor, or partner, guideline income and tax-return income routinely differ, and the gap is where the litigation is. Courts commonly add back to guideline income items that are legitimate tax deductions but do not reduce the money actually available to the parent -- accelerated depreciation and expensing elections, a vehicle or phone used personally, home-office allocations, meals and travel with a personal component, and wages paid to a new spouse or family member who does little work.

The mirror image also comes up: a parent whose K-1 shows a large share of pass-through profit they never actually received may argue that undistributed income should not be counted. Both directions turn on documents -- returns, schedules, general ledgers, and bank statements -- rather than on the headline number.

When income swings -- seasonal work, commissions, tips, overtime, bonuses -- most states use an average over a representative recent period rather than the last pay stub. The length of that period is itself frequently argued, because a 12-month average and a 36-month average can produce meaningfully different orders for the same parent.

At the other end, every schedule-based state's table runs out at some income level, and the guideline stops giving an answer above it. Verified examples from this site's own calculators: Virginia's schedule tops out at $42,500 in combined monthly gross income, South Carolina's at $40,000, Pennsylvania's at $30,000 in combined monthly net, and New Jersey's at $3,600 in combined weekly net. Texas takes a different approach and caps the input instead -- the guideline percentages apply only to the first $11,700 per month of the obligor's net resources (a figure that rose from $9,200 effective September 1, 2025). Above these lines, the court has discretion, usually guided by the proven needs of the child rather than by extending the formula.

There is a floor as well: federal regulation requires state guidelines to account for the basic subsistence needs of a low-income parent, which states implement as a self-support reserve, a low-income adjustment, or a minimum order.

If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or working well below their real earning capacity, most states let a court assign ("impute") an income figure based on that parent's work history, education, and the local job market, instead of using what they actually report. See how imputed income works for the standards and how the number gets set.

• The most recent two or three years of tax returns, with all schedules
• Recent pay stubs, ideally one showing year-to-date totals
• Documentation of any bonus, commission, or overtime history
• For self-employment: profit-and-loss statements, K-1s, and business bank statements
• Award letters for any benefits, and proof of any derivative benefit a child receives
• The cost of the children's health insurance, and of work-related childcare
• Proof of support paid for other children under an existing order

With those in hand, running your state's calculator gives an estimate on the same inputs a court would start from -- and running it twice, on each side's version of the income figures, shows exactly what the disagreement is worth per month.