How to calculate alimony - the amount required by law, what factors influence the amount of payments

Home » Alimony » How child support is calculated

The main and main problem when paying alimony is their calculation. The legislation (Article 81 of the RF IC) says this quite vaguely. There are virtually no specific numbers, clear minimum and maximum levels, since each situation is considered individually. However, there have long been general principles by which alimony is calculated, and their practice confirms them.

What determines the amount of child support for one child?

The government does not set a fixed amount that the child support provider must pay to his children every month. The amount of payments is influenced by a number of reasons and factors. However, a person who is planning to file a lawsuit or has received a writ of execution can figure out how child support is calculated and the approximate amount to expect.

The amount that children remaining after divorce will receive monthly depends on the following factors:

Is the decision to pay voluntary? If the divorce is more or less amicable and both parents understand their responsibility in raising children, they can independently agree on how much the other parent should pay. In this case, the amount may not depend on the income of the former spouse. However, it should not be less than the minimum wage adopted in the region of residence of the child.
If alimony is assigned after filing an application with the court, then a variety of factors will be taken into account: the level of income of the parent, the immediate needs of the child. If he has health problems, the amount of payments will be larger. If the parent himself is a non-working disabled person, you can only count on minimal deductions from his benefit.

The calculation of alimony and its calculation will be made on the basis of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings” and under Article 113 of the Family Code. In order to start making payments from the salary, you need a statement from the parent himself, if this is his voluntary decision, an agreement sealed by a notary. If alimony is paid by court, then a court decision and a writ of execution issued on its basis, and a court order will be required.

Question answer

Should a father pay child support after 18 years of age if the child is studying?

The obligation to pay child support ceases from the moment the child turns 18 years old. An adult child can go to court and recover alimony from a parent only if there is a disability.

How to reduce the amount of child support from your first marriage

You can reduce the amount of payments:

By agreement of the parties (if funds are paid on the basis of a notarial agreement).
By court decision (if the mother is against a reduction in alimony by agreement or payments were collected through the court).

To reduce the amount of alimony through the court, the father must present compelling reasons:

Child support was collected from him for other children, for parents, for other dependents;
Recently, income has decreased (if alimony is assigned in a fixed amount);
Was fired or laid off;
A serious illness has been identified or a disability has been registered and he needs expensive treatment.

Important! The courts are extremely reluctant to reduce the amount of payments. Therefore, before filing a lawsuit, you need to carefully prepare evidence (medical documents about the disease, work record book, copy of the writ of execution for the collection of alimony).

Calculation example

Ivanov P.I., by court decision, pays an amount equal to 2 subsistence minimums established for the city of Moscow.

In 2021, when the court made this decision, its figure was 13,300 rubles. Consequently, Ivanov P.I. paid 26,600 rubles.

In 2021, the indicators have increased, and the minimum is now 13938. To calculate the indexation level, you need 26,600: 13,300 * 13,938 = 27,664.

There is another way to calculate indexation. We determine the ratio of the new minimum indicator to the old one and multiply by the amount of established payments:

13 938 : 13300 = 1,04
1.04 * 26600 = 27664 rub.

Either way, the amount will be the same.

Let's take a closer look at examples of how alimony is calculated in different situations.

Example of calculation for one child

Let's look at an example of how child support is calculated for one child. The general procedure looks like this:

The employee is paid his salary for the period worked (month) in accordance with his position and employment contract.
A tax of 13% is withheld from the salary.
The calculation of alimony under a writ of execution or a notarial agreement is made from the remaining amount.
The funds received are transferred to the specified account.

An employee of one of the enterprises has a salary of 45,000 rubles per month under an employment contract. It is necessary to calculate the deductions for his child who has not reached the age of majority. According to the writ of execution, their amount should be 25% of income. In addition, the employee is entitled to a tax deduction of 1,400 rubles.

To calculate the amount on which tax will be withheld, you need to subtract the amount of tax deduction from your salary: 45,000 – 1,400 = 43,600 rubles.
We calculate the tax: 43,600 * 13% = 5,668 rubles.
We determine the amount of net income: 43,600 – 5668 = 39,332 rubles.
Alimony will be calculated from this amount. Their size is equal to a quarter of income. This means 39,332 * 25% = 9883 rubles. - the amount that must be transferred to support the child.
The employee’s salary will ultimately be: 39,332 – 9883 = 29,449 rubles.

For two children

Deductions in favor of two children are calculated in the same way. However, in this case, a tax deduction is provided for everyone, that is, 1,400 * 2 = 2,800 rubles are subtracted from the salary before calculating personal income tax. And the percentage of alimony is 33% of income.

45,000 – 2800 = 42,200 rub.
42,200 * 13% = 5,486 rubles. – Personal income tax
45,000 – 5486 = 39,514 rubles.
39,514 * 33% = 13,039 rubles. – child support for two children

As a result, the employee will receive “clean”, without deductions and taxes - 38,211 rubles.

For three children

If an employee has three or more children, then he is obliged to transfer half of his income to their maintenance. The tax deduction is 1,400 rubles for two children and 300 rubles for a third child. That is, 5,800 rubles are deducted from the salary before taxation:

45,000 – 5800 = 39,200 rub. – taxable part.
Personal income tax from it will be 5096 rubles.
45,000 – 5096 = 39,904 rubles. is the employee's income. Child support will be calculated from this amount:
39,904 : 2 = 19,952 – these are the funds that will be transferred to the children.

And the same amount is due to the employee.

Calculation for less than a month

If the writ of execution contains the date from which alimony is calculated, and it does not coincide with the calendar beginning of the month, then payments will be calculated from the day indicated in the document. Let's say it's April 20th.

There are 21 working days in April. Funds are credited within 9 working days.

We calculate the employee’s income for this period, if his monthly salary is 40 thousand rubles: 40000: 21 * 9 = 17142.85

Next, we calculate personal income tax: 17142.85 * 13% = 2228.57
The salary for the billing period will be: 17,142.85 – 2228.57 = 14,914.28
Payments for the child will be calculated from this:

14,914.28 * 25% = 3728.57 rub.

Accordingly, at the end of the month, the employee’s salary, after transferring the tax, will be reduced by this amount.

Debt on alimony

If the employee from whom alimony is being collected moves to another job, then the previous employer must forward the writ of execution to withhold alimony to the bailiffs. Due to the fact that information about the assigned alimony may reach the new employer’s accountant after a certain amount of time, the employee will be in arrears in paying alimony. In this case, the amount of current alimony should be withheld first, and only then the amount of debt. Taking into account Art. 138 Labor Code of the Russian Federation and sub. 2.3 tbsp. 99 No. 229-FZ, the amount of deductions should be no more than 50 or 70% of the salary due to the employee.

As a rule, the writ of execution states how much the debt should be withheld. For example, “in the amount of 25% to pay off the debt before it is repaid.” If only the amount is indicated, without recommendations for the withholding process, then the maximum withholding amount in this case may be 70%.

Example 2

The accounting department received two writs of execution for the employee. According to the first, alimony was assigned for the maintenance of two children in the amount of 33% of earnings. According to the second, arrears of alimony for the same children for previous periods are indicated in the amount of 18,500 rubles.

The sheet does not say how to retain the debt, which means that the accountant should focus on 70%.

For January, a salary was accrued in the amount of 20,010 rubles (the amount received after withholding personal income tax).

Alimony: 20,010 rub. x 33% = 6603.3 rub.

Maximum allowable deduction amount: RUB 20,010. x 70% = 14,007 rub.

Allowable amount of deductions to pay off debt: RUB 14,007. – 6603.3 rub. = 7403.7 rub.

Balance of debt as of February 1: 18,500 rubles. – 7403.7 rub. = 11,096.3 rubles

Responsibility for non-payment of alimony

Sometimes, after a divorce, one of the parents, not wanting to pay money for the maintenance of the children, begins to evade this responsibility in any way: does not report his whereabouts, works unofficially, or receives a salary equal to the minimum wage.

In this case, according to the law, there are two types of liability: civil and criminal. He bears civil liability for failure to comply with a notarial agreement or writ of execution.

For each day of non-payment, penalties are charged. The defendant must repay the resulting debt along with the amount due withholdings. The amount of the fine for non-payment of alimony is established on the basis of the Family Code.

In some cases, it is possible to contact bailiffs. They can block the alimony provider’s accounts or withdraw the required amount from them.

For malicious evasion of one's duties, the payment of fines or forced correctional labor, and even imprisonment are provided. The term of arrest and the amount of fines are determined by the court on the basis of the Criminal Code. Being punished does not exempt you from paying alimony, that is, a negligent parent, once released, is obliged to continue paying money to his children.

Who has the right to receive alimony?

When there is discord in the family, financially insolvent family members are forced to demand help using the rights established by law. Many people think that child support is paid only for children, but this is not entirely true. Chapters 13-15 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation list categories of citizens who can apply for maintenance:

minor children. In this case, the spouses may be married or divorced - it does not matter. The funds will be received by the parent appointed by the court or by agreement as the representative of the child’s interests. The obligation automatically ends when the child reaches 18 years of age;
disabled disabled children who, for objective reasons, are not able to earn their own maintenance. Payments will be made for life or until the disability is lifted;
spouse during pregnancy, as well as while the child is growing up to 3 years old;
a spouse who is caring for a disabled child, subject to a difficult financial situation, lack of work and the need for financial support;
a spouse who became unable to work during the marriage or within a year after the divorce;
a spouse who retired within five years of the divorce and needs financial support;
parents who are unable to provide themselves with at least a minimum standard of living.

All of the listed categories of citizens objectively need material support. But the calculation of alimony for each of them will be different.

Procedure for withholding alimony

Deductions are made by the employer's accounting department if the parent paying child support has an official salary. They are calculated from all types of earnings and from almost all benefits. The only exception may be the benefit that an employee receives in connection with the birth of a child.

The law also limits the amount of deductions. According to Article 138 of the Labor Code, they cannot account for more than half of the employee’s income. However, in some cases their size may be higher.

Example

An employee of the enterprise received 2 writs of execution. According to one, he must pay funds in favor of 3 children from his first marriage. The amount of deductions should be 50%.

According to the second, he must transfer 8 thousand rubles for the maintenance of his second wife.

The citizen’s income after paying 13% was 30,000 rubles.

The children should be deducted 15,000 rubles from him. And 8 thousand - for the second wife. The total amount of deductions should be 23 thousand, which significantly exceeds the 50% required by law. In cases where money is withheld in favor of minors, it is allowed to deduct up to 70% of income, which equals 21 thousand rubles. This amount will be divided proportionally between the two spouses:

21,000 * 15,000: 23,000 = 13,695.65 rubles. - will be received by the first wife of a citizen.
21,000 * 8000: 23,000 = 6,720 rubles. – alimony for the second wife.
The remaining funds are 23,000 - 21,000 = 2,000 rubles - a debt that will be gradually paid.

If an employee also has deductions from wages based on writs of execution or fines, then first of all, alimony is always calculated and withheld.

Attention! If a citizen pays funds for the maintenance of children from different marriages, then all transfers are made simultaneously.

Indexation and personal income tax when calculating alimony from wages

The issue of indexation of the amount of alimony affects only those collections that are carried out not from a stable income, in a fixed amount, but those alimony that are established by a court decision in a fixed monetary amount, indicated in the form of the minimum wage indicator.
Such payments will be indexed in parallel with the growth of the minimum wage indicator, and it changes upward every quarter. Accordingly, the amount of alimony will increase accordingly every quarter.

If alimony is collected only from the defendant’s wages, then there can be no question of any indexation here. Since such payments will have a different size every month, they are calculated as a percentage of the salary that the person actually received. Along with the size of the salary, the amount of alimony will also change.

The second pressing issue affecting the collection of wages is the accounting of personal income tax (personal income tax). When it comes to calculating alimony, it is worth remembering that it occurs only from the amount that a person actually receives after all necessary tax contributions have been deducted from him. Accordingly, alimony from wages will be calculated after personal income tax has already been deducted from it. If the employer does not deduct personal income tax from the employee’s payment, then alimony will be calculated based on the full amount of earnings.

How to calculate child support from a non-working parent

If, after a divorce, a wife files a lawsuit for alimony, then a writ of execution is sent to her husband’s place of work. Then the deduction of alimony from his wages is carried out by the accounting department of the enterprise where he works.

But if the father does not work, this does not relieve him of responsibility to the children. In case of official recognition as unemployed, funds will be deducted from unemployment benefits.

If the parent is an entrepreneur, then in this case, in order to calculate the amount, you need to know the specifics of taxation in the region of residence. If he submits an income tax return at the end of the year, payments are made based on this information.

If a simplified taxation system is in effect, then a scheme is used that determines the average salary in the region and from this the amount of payments per child is calculated.

Internet portals dedicated to legal topics contain online calculators that easily allow you to calculate the approximate amount of money owed for one child or several children.