My Spouse is Self-Employed: How Can I Find His Income for Our Divorce?
How can I find my spouse’s self-employed income for our divorce? Is there any way you can prove what your spouse’s self-employed income is? The answer is that there are ways to determine the income of a self-employed person, but there is no 100% certain way. When a person is self-employed, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they work eight hours a day five days a week. A self-employed person can work from home or out in the field. No matter what type of work a self-employed person does, there is no sure way to say whether that person is getting paid an hourly wage, by the job at a pre-determined rate, our by monthly distributions from earnings. If you want to know how to prove what your spouse’s self-employed income is, then here are some things to keep in mind.
When you are dealing with a divorce, all of the proof you have collected will have to be presented formally as evidence in court. Even if you think that you have proof that your spouse is getting paid a certain amount, you may not have the formal proof that you need to win your case if you don’t have the right kind of evidence needed to be presented in court. It is wise to have an explanation of every aspect of your financial life. Here is how you can find self-employed income of a spouse for your divorce.
First, look at the tax forms that you have. Many self-employed people who have a sole proprietorship put their earnings on their personal tax returns. This includes income from their home business. However, if your spouse works from home, he or she will most likely deduct all of their possible work expenses from their income. This can make it very difficult to prove your spouse’s true self-employed income. Another way to verify the amount of income is from your self-employed spouse’s business tax returns. Many self-employed people prefer to file their business tax returns on their own because they don’t want to deal with the paperwork that comes with filing a traditional business tax return with an accountant.
Ask family and friends if they know of any self-employed employees. Often, family members will know someone who is self-employed and will be willing to let you know certain deductions for being self-employed. Your tax preparer can also help you figure out how much your spouse can claim for business expenses and also how much he or she can claim for your personal expenses. The tax preparer will have much information dedicated just to self-employment tax issues. It would help if you looked into this when attempting to figure out how much your spouses is actually bringing in from self-employment prior to a divorce.
Self-employed individuals can still get a fair share of benefits from the IRS. Your tax preparer can help you figure out how much tax benefits you can get if you are filing as married filing jointly with your spouse during the divorce and how much you tax benefits you can claim if you file as married filing separately during the divorce instead. Also, if you are trying to figure out how to get your fair share of tax benefits if your spouse is self-employed, the IRS has an informative website where you can get a full list of things that can be claimed as self-employed tax deductions.
Where Do I Go from Here?
A good Sarasota, Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, or Venice divorce lawyer like can help you discuss all of your options regarding proving self-employment income of a spouse. That is why it’s important to speak to Sarasota divorce attorney Sarasota Matthew Z. Martell right away. Although it can be difficult to prove accurate self-employment income of a spouse during a divorce, it can be done. So, talk to someone in Sarasota, Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, or Venice who is experienced in family law today about what steps you need to take to prove self-employment income in a divorce.
Ready to get divorced from someone who is self-employed? Talk to Law Offices of Matthew Z. Martell at (941) 556-7020 today. Our highly reviewed Sarasota divorce lawyer attorney Matthew Martell is ready to help you now.
