• Overall, child support is not used as a tax deduction in the state of Illinois.tax forms image by Chad McDermott from Fotolia.com
  
  In Illinois, child support is determined by the net income of the non-custodial parent, and can vary based upon the number of children. In calculating net income, most sources are used except for federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security and union dues. Illinois laws determine if and when child support can be used as a tax deduction as well.
  
  

Non-Custodial Parent

• Overall, child-support payments are not deductible from the payor's tax return. There are specific situations where child-support payments may be used as a deduction from the tax return.
  
  

Custodial Parent

• Child-support payments are generally not reported as income on the recipient's tax return. The custodial parent and recipient of the child support payments will only claim income from other sources on the tax returns.
  
  

Exception

• Occasionally, the parent paying the child support can use an exemption known as the income tax dependency exemption. Sometimes, this exemption can be split up between the parent paying the child support and the parent receiving the child support. The amount of the tax deduction and whether or not this can be used is at the discretion of the court. In some situations, courts have declared the parent paying child support is entitled to the dependency exemption on his taxes on alternate years.
  
  

Court's Discretion

• At the time of the divorce proceedings the court will rule on the tax deduction issue, if the matter is brought up by the non-custodial parent.