There are situations that can arise where you and another party both enter what you believe to be the same numbers into Family Law Software and get different outcomes.
The same thing can happen where the other party is using a different software for child support and you enter what you believe to be the same numbers and get different results.
Either way, this FAQ will help you figure out what is the reason for the differences.
If the difference is between Family Law Software and another product, it could be because Family Law Software updates its tax numbers immediately at the start of a new year, and some of these other programs take weeks or even months to do so.
All of these other products generally give the right child support results. And, so far as we are aware, so does Family Law Software.
So, for more dramatic differences, the difference is usually because of a different data entry in the two products.
With regard to two people who are both using Family Law Software, we have examined many of these cases, and it always turns out that the difference is due either to overrides or to different data entry in the two cases, even though you are sure you have entered the same thing in both cases.
Here are the steps to take to determine where the difference lies:
1. Check for overrides.
Check each line of the Child Support Guideline Worksheet, looking for numbers that have been overridden. Overridden entries will appear in red.
An overridden entry indicates that a portion of the software’s calculation has been ignored, and the overridden entry substituted for what the software would calculate at that point.
You probably want to clear the override, so the software’s calculation can be used. To clear the override, click on the red entry, and then delete the value. That will restore the software’s calculation.
Then go to Reports > View/Edit Taxes and check for red numbers. Either remove them or make sure they are the same in both cases.
See if this resolves the differences. If not, continue to step 2.
2. Check the tax calculation.
Here are some areas to check:
- At Reports > View/Edit Taxes, check the federal tax numbers in both computations. If they are different, then this is certainly one source of the difference.
- Scroll to the bottom and check state taxes for differences.
- Check all the other taxes (Social Security, Self Employment) for differences.
- Under Children, check who is claiming the exemptions for each child in both cases.
- Under Wages, check whether or not they are self-employment in both cases.
- Under assets & debts, make sure that the percent of income for each asset and % of payment of each debt is the same in both cases.
- At the deduction for health insurance, check the tax category (pre-tax vs after-tax) in both cases.
- In New Jersey, check the calculation method for state taxes (Circular E vs Appendix IX-H).
- In Illinois, check that you are using the same methods for taxes (Actual versus Gross-to-net).
- In other states with options regarding tax calculations, check those options.
- Also, please be aware that, in every state where the tax calculation is a factor in child support except New Jersey (which may use a fixed table) or New York (which uses FICA and Medicare but not Federal Income Tax), the software uses “actual” taxes, not payroll deductions.
- Print out the other program’s tax calculation, and print the View/Edit Taxes report from Family Law Software. Lay these next to each other and go line by line, comparing them. The first line with a difference is probably the reason for the discrepancy. If you want to use the other program’s tax numbers in the Family Law Software guideline calculation, you can override the Family Law Software tax numbers with the other program’s number.
3. Check each line of both programs’ guideline worksheets or Budget Reports.
a. If you have not identified the reason for the difference yet, print out both program’s child support guideline worksheets. If you are looking at net income general, not child support in particular, use Reports > Budget Report from Family Law Software and the analogous report from the other program.
b. Set them side by side, and compare the print-outs line by line.
c. The first line that has a difference probably affects every line after that. So clear up that difference.
d. Then repeat the process, until there are no more differences.
There are situations that can arise where you and another party both enter what you believe to be the same numbers into Family Law Software and get different outcomes.
The same thing can happen where the other party is using a different software for child support and you enter what you believe to be the same numbers and get different results.
Either way, this FAQ will help you figure out what is the reason for the differences.
If the difference is between Family Law Software and another product, it could be because Family Law Software updates its tax numbers immediately at the start of a new year, and some of these other programs take weeks or even months to do so.
All of these other products generally give the right child support results. And, so far as we are aware, so does Family Law Software.
So, for more dramatic differences, the difference is usually because of a different data entry in the two products.
With regard to two people who are both using Family Law Software, we have examined many of these cases, and it always turns out that the difference is due either to overrides or to different data entry in the two cases, even though you are sure you have entered the same thing in both cases.
Here are the steps to take to determine where the difference lies:
1. Check for overrides.
Check each line of the Child Support Guideline Worksheet, looking for numbers that have been overridden. Overridden entries will appear in red.
An overridden entry indicates that a portion of the software’s calculation has been ignored, and the overridden entry substituted for what the software would calculate at that point.
You probably want to clear the override, so the software’s calculation can be used. To clear the override, click on the red entry, and then delete the value. That will restore the software’s calculation.
Then go to Reports > View/Edit Taxes and check for red numbers. Either remove them or make sure they are the same in both cases.
See if this resolves the differences. If not, continue to step 2.
2. Check the tax calculation.
Here are some areas to check:
- At Reports > View/Edit Taxes, check the federal tax numbers in both computations. If they are different, then this is certainly one source of the difference.
- Scroll to the bottom and check state taxes for differences.
- Check all the other taxes (Social Security, Self Employment) for differences.
- Under Children, check who is claiming the exemptions for each child in both cases.
- Under Wages, check whether or not they are self-employment in both cases.
- Under assets & debts, make sure that the percent of income for each asset and % of payment of each debt is the same in both cases.
- At the deduction for health insurance, check the tax category (pre-tax vs after-tax) in both cases.
- In New Jersey, check the calculation method for state taxes (Circular E vs Appendix IX-H).
- In Illinois, check that you are using the same methods for taxes (Actual versus Gross-to-net).
- In other states with options regarding tax calculations, check those options.
- Also, please be aware that, in every state where the tax calculation is a factor in child support except New Jersey (which may use a fixed table) or New York (which uses FICA and Medicare but not Federal Income Tax), the software uses “actual” taxes, not payroll deductions.
- Print out the other program’s tax calculation, and print the View/Edit Taxes report from Family Law Software. Lay these next to each other and go line by line, comparing them. The first line with a difference is probably the reason for the discrepancy. If you want to use the other program’s tax numbers in the Family Law Software guideline calculation, you can override the Family Law Software tax numbers with the other program’s number.
3. Check each line of both programs’ guideline worksheets or Budget Reports.
a. If you have not identified the reason for the difference yet, print out both program’s child support guideline worksheets. If you are looking at net income general, not child support in particular, use Reports > Budget Report from Family Law Software and the analogous report from the other program.
b. Set them side by side, and compare the print-outs line by line.
c. The first line that has a difference probably affects every line after that. So clear up that difference.
d. Then repeat the process, until there are no more differences.