What amount can Jeanna exclude from her income if Rich pays the full annual child support and alimony amounts?

In this scenario, the correct answer involves understanding the tax treatment of child support and alimony. Under current tax laws, child support payments are not considered taxable income for the recipient. Therefore, Jeanna would not include the child support payments she receives in her taxable income.

On the other hand, alimony payments are treated differently based on when the divorce agreement was finalized. For divorce agreements executed after December 31, 2018, alimony payments are not deductible by the payer nor considered taxable income for the recipient. However, if Rich's payments qualify as alimony under pre-2019 rules, those payments would be included as taxable income for Jeanna.

Assuming Jeanna is “excluding” the entire amount paid for alimony due to it being the full annual amounts, the amount she can exclude from her income is seen in the context of the total support payment made by Rich.

In this case, if Rich pays substantial amounts categorized as both child support and alimony, the amount Jeanna may properly exclude from her taxable income would be substantial, reflecting the consistent and higher payment amounts typical in structured alimony agreements. Therefore, the amount listed as $2,400 accurately represents a possible annual total that could be drawn from these support