Self-employed and imputed income in New York child support (2026)

What counts as income for New York child support?

Family Court Act § 413(1)(b)(5) builds income in layers:

1. The tax return. Gross income as reported, or as it should have been reported, on the most recent federal income tax return (i).
2. Other income not on it. Investment income less the costs of earning it (ii), and benefits such as workers’ compensation, disability, unemployment insurance, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, pensions, fellowships, stipends and annuities (iii).
3. Imputed income, at the court’s discretion (iv) and (v), described below.
4. Self-employment add-backs (vi).
5. Deductions (vii): unreimbursed work expenses that do not reduce personal spending, Social Security and Medicare taxes actually paid, New York City or Yonkers income taxes actually paid, and a few others.

The what counts as income explainer compares this with Texas and Virginia.

How is child support calculated for a self-employed parent in New York?

The starting point is the same: income on the tax return, which for a business owner is the business income after the deductions claimed there. Section 413(1)(b)(5)(vi) then adds back, to the extent they were deducted:

• depreciation greater than straight-line depreciation, used in working out business income or investment credits;
• entertainment and travel allowances deducted from business income, to the extent they reduce personal spending.

The court can also impute the personal value of perks paid through a business, such as meals, lodging, memberships or cars (iv)(B). Under § 413(1)(j), it can require tax returns, pay stubs, and business records, and the state’s court guidance lists W-2s, pay stubs and recent tax returns among the documents to bring to a hearing.

The calculator treats every income you enter as wages and subtracts employee Social Security and Medicare taxes. It does not compute self-employment tax or the add-backs, so for a self-employed parent the figure is a rougher estimate.

When will a New York court impute income?

The statute allows two kinds of imputation, both at the court’s discretion:

• Other resources (§ 413(1)(b)(5)(iv)): income attributed from non-income-producing assets; meals, lodging, memberships, cars or other perquisites provided as part of pay, to the extent they are personal; fringe benefits; and money, goods or services provided by relatives and friends.
• Former income (§ 413(1)(b)(5)(v)): an amount based on the parent’s former resources or income, if the court finds the parent reduced them in order to reduce or avoid child support. Incarceration is not treated as voluntary unemployment.

What does a court consider before imputing income?

Section 413(1)(b)(5)(iv) lists the parent’s specific circumstances, to the extent known: assets, residence, employment and earnings history, job skills, education, literacy, age, health, criminal record and other barriers to employment, record of seeking work, the local job market, whether employers are willing to hire the parent, prevailing local earnings, and the age, number, needs and care of the children. The same list appears in the federal rule that state guidelines must follow (45 CFR 302.56(c)(1)(iii)).

Any imputation must come with specific written findings explaining what it is based on.

What if a parent’s income is unknown or a parent does not appear?

Under § 413(1)(k), when a parent defaults or the court has too little evidence of gross income, support is based on the available information about that parent’s specific circumstances, using the same factors. Such an order can later be modified upward retroactively, without showing a change in circumstances.

How much does imputed income change the guideline?

The guideline is run on whatever income the court finds. For illustration only, if a court found the other parent’s income to be $5,000 a month rather than the $4,000 shown on the return, with the parent the children live with at $3,000 and one child, the guideline would be $784.98 instead of $627.98 a month. The calculator does not impute income itself.

Open this family in the New York calculator

What this guide does not cover

This guide does not cover how courts value a business, how they choose an imputed figure in a particular case, or pass-through tax deductions. The engine also leaves out these parts of New York’s guideline:

• Deductions from income not modeled: unreimbursed employee business expenses, maintenance paid to a spouse who is not a party, maintenance paid to the other parent (deducted only when the order or agreement provides a child support adjustment for when it ends), child support actually paid for other children, public assistance, SSI, and New York City or Yonkers income taxes (FCA § 413(1)(b)(5)(vii)(A) to (G)).
• Social Security and Medicare are computed as an employee pays them; self-employment tax is not modeled.
• Cash medical support when the children have no health insurance and are on Medicaid or the state child health plan is not modeled. It is capped at 5% of the paying parent's gross income or that parent's income above the self-support reserve, whichever is less (FCA § 413(1)(c)(5)(iii) and (iv)).
• Education costs and child care while the custodial parent looks for work are added at the court's discretion (FCA § 413(1)(c)(6) and (7)); not modeled.

The figures are estimates of the guideline amount. A court can order a different amount, and an existing order only changes when it is modified.