Every year, separated parents discover a higher tax amount than expected. Most often, the problem comes from a declaration filled out too quickly.
When the tax notice arrives, it’s always the same scenario: a balance to pay, an unexpected amount and the feeling of having missed something. After a separation, finances are already more strained, so a few hundred euros more can weigh heavily. The good news is that most of the time, this increase comes from poor tax settings.
In fact, filing taxes after a breakup requires more attention than a typical year. From now on, there is no longer a common tax household but two very distinct situations. Everyone declares their income, everyone has their own tax rate, everyone must verify information related to children. In practice, many validate their file thinking that the changes already reported have automatically been taken into account. However, it is rarely this smooth.
Alimony is one of the most confusing areas. For the parent who pays it, it may give rise to a deduction depending on the case. For the person who receives it, it must generally be included in the declared income. Many discover this operation late. Some imagine that everything will already be written on the pre-filled declaration, others think that this will only have a minimal impact. In the end, the difference may be real in the amount to be paid.
As you will have understood, two parents with similar incomes can receive very different tax notices after a separation. Income matters, of course, but the way in which family situation is declared weighs enormously. A simple oversight can cancel out a tax benefit or create an unfavorable calculation over the entire year. And, here is what the oversight in question can be: not checking whether the child is declared in sole care or in joint custody or forgetting the single parent box when it applies. These elements directly modify the calculation of the tax and sometimes significantly increase the bill.
Note that withholding tax sometimes adds a second surprise. If the separation has not been updated quickly, the old rate may continue to apply even though it no longer corresponds at all to the new reality. And very often, it turns out to be more advantageous after separation. In short, here too we must remain vigilant.
