Self-employment and imputed income for child support in Florida (2026)

How is self-employment income counted in Florida?

Gross income includes business income from self-employment, partnerships, close corporations and independent contracts. Fla. Stat. § 61.30(2)(a)3 defines it as “gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses required to produce income”. Rental income is counted the same way (§ 61.30(2)(a)11). The statute gives no list of excluded expenses.

Reimbursed expenses and in-kind payments also count as income to the extent that they reduce living expenses (§ 61.30(2)(a)13).

Is self-employment tax deducted?

Yes. Net income is gross income less the allowable deductions in § 61.30(3), which include income tax for the parent’s actual filing status and “federal insurance contributions or self-employment tax”. A self-employed parent shows these on the financial affidavit that every petition needs (§ 61.30(14)).

The calculator works on wages: it takes off federal income tax and employee Social Security and Medicare, not self-employment tax. For a self-employed parent its net income, and so its figure, can differ from the guideline a court works out from the financial affidavits.

The other parent's monthly gross income, worked out as wages

Other parent's income a month	1 child	2 children
$3,000	$505.12	$782.58
$5,000	$727.81	$1,132.08
$7,000	$886.90	$1,377.68
$9,000	$1,025.13	$1,589.78

What is imputed income?

Monthly income shall be imputed to an unemployed or underemployed parent when the court finds the unemployment or underemployment voluntary, unless it finds a physical or mental incapacity or other circumstances beyond the parent’s control (§ 61.30(2)(b)). The parent’s employment potential and probable earnings are then set from their recent work history, occupational qualifications and the prevailing earnings level in the community.

When a parent’s income information is unavailable, or a parent does not take part in the case or supply adequate financial information, income is imputed automatically, with a rebuttable presumption that the parent earns the median income of year-round full-time workers from Census Bureau reports. The court may refuse to impute income if it finds that the parent needs to stay home with the child.

What limits imputed income?

To impute any amount other than the median income, the court must make specific findings, and the parent asking for it must show that the unemployment or underemployment is voluntary and identify the amount and source of the income, from available work the parent is suited to by education, experience, licensure or location, considering the time-sharing schedule (§ 61.30(2)(b)1). Otherwise, income may not be imputed from income records more than 5 years old at the hearing, or at a level the parent has never earned unless recently qualified for it (§ 61.30(2)(b)2). Incarceration may not be treated as voluntary unemployment, though the court may deviate (§ 61.30(2)(c)).

What this guide does not cover

Valuing a business, retained earnings, and how a court decides a particular case of underemployment. The engine also leaves out:

• Net income counts wages only, with federal income tax for a single or head-of-household filer after the child tax credit, Social Security and Medicare, and union dues. Not modeled: self-employment tax, married filing status, refundable credits (a court may weigh them as a deviation, § 61.30(11)(a)8), mandatory retirement, a parent's own health insurance, and support paid for other children (§ 61.30(3)(d) to (f)). A net income already worked out on a financial affidavit can be entered instead.
• Not modeled: uninsured medical, dental and prescription costs (§ 61.30(8)), usually ordered split by percentage as they come up; imputed income; Social Security paid to the children; children on different time-sharing schedules; deviation factors, including time-sharing under 20% of overnights (§ 61.30(11)(a)).