In Canada, the rate of divorce has reached a noticeable level, that is 40%. That means, in every 100 marriages, 40 marriage ends in divorce. As a result, the most affected are the children, not the couple.
For this reason, the significance of child support needs no telling. However, many people ask the question, can you go to jail for not paying child support in Canada? Let’s clear it out in the next section of this article.
Can You Go to Jail for Not Paying Child Support in Canada?
At first, we want to say that, if you are not paying child support, you not doing a good thing. It’s obviously a crime, and maybe you need to go to jail for this.
There have 1.2 million divorced couples having a child in Canada. This number of children need child support. The Canadian govt has given much importance to child support. Notably, between child support and spousal support, you have to pay child support first.
Then if you have the ability to pay for spousal support, you can pay that. Otherwise, the court may penalize you. Here are the penalties for not paying child support in Alberta:
Wages Garnishment:
The court can directly contact your employer for deducting a portion of your paycheck and give it to the custodial parents under the Judgement and Wage Garnishment order. Then that money can be sent very easily to the custodial parent.
Suspension of Driving License:
There has a rule in almost every province in Canada that you will get the suspension of your driving license, occupational, business, or professional licenses for not paying child support. Here, local child support agencies provide reports to the Division of Motor Vehicle regularly so that they can understand that drivers are giving child support or not.
Fines and Penalties:
In some provinces, the court charges fines and penalties for not giving child support. So, you may have to pay child support with fines if you don’t give it regularly.
Denial of Passport:
Parents who don’t give child support may be unable to get the passport. The province directly prevents them from getting and renewing a passport.
Dismissal From the Military Service:
The parents who are in military services of Canada and unable to give child support can get dismissal from their jobs.
Jail Time:
Imprisonment is basically the last go for the parents who don’t give child support. The duration of their imprisonment can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Here you will get released as soon as possible you will be able to pay all the remaining amount of child support.
These are basically the penalties for not giving child support in Alberta. After knowing about these penalties, nobody should show the bravery to no giving child support.
How to Stop Child Support Payments When the Child Turns 18?
In most of the cases, child support will automatically be stopped, when children turn 18. You don’t need anything to do there. Just stop paying for child support. You are paying child support for a long time. So, you have the order of assignment. Your obligation will be automatically discontinued on the respective date.
But there have some exceptions here. If the child is in secondary school and his/her study is not completed yet, in that case, you may need to pay child support even after turning 18.
Child Support and Taxes:
In the case of child support, there is a very frequently asked question. The question is, are child support payments taxable or tax-deductible? The answer is, if you are the payor of child support, nothing can be deductible from the money of the child support.
The payment of child support is neither deductible by the payor nor taxable income to the payee. So, when you are the custodial parent, if you want to calculate your gross income for filing the tax return, you have to exclude the payments of child support.
How to Calculate Child Support Payments?
There is a standard formula for calculating child support that follows the court. It is important to know for both custodial parents and the payor. You can find many child support calculator online.
The Child Support Enforcement Act formulates Child support, and every state has its own system to calculate. Anyways, here are the minimum criteria that every state evaluates:
Needs of the Child:
The first consideration is the needs of the child. Court calculates the amount of money that need to satisfy the basic human needs such as, cost of foods, the cost of clothing, and many other necessary things like these.
Standard of Living of the Child:
Court also considers that child’s standard of living. All of them are not lives luxuriously. Here the needs of all the people are not the same. So, their payment will also be different.
The Income of the Custodial Parents:
Custodial parent plays the most significant role in child life. The court considers their income also. If the income of the custodial parent is lower, the amount of child support will be definitely increased.
The Income of the Payer:
This is one of the most important considerations here. If the payor earns less money, the amount of money will also be less. There’s nothing to do here. Because, if the payer can’t earn more money, then how will he manage to give it.
Additional Expenses:
There have some additional expenses. You may be sick, and you may need more money for treatment. So, according to these considerations, the payment rate will be high also.
After considering these factors, the court determines a standard rate of the payment, which is helpful for both parties.
Can You Go to Jail for Not Paying Taxes in Canada
In particular “for not documenting you ‘pay tax(es)’, no. In any case, I will call attention to that while the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) won’t ‘put you in prison’ their command is wide and ground-breaking.
CRA can and reminds you recorded as a hard copy, generally, three (3) times to document, at that point after stage one, if you effectively own cash to CRA, there come three (3) cautioning letters, trailed by enrolled letters (2), trailed by a lawfully restricting Requirement-to-Pay.
On the off chance that that doesn’t place the dear of G*d in you, at that point the resulting seizure orders for your vehicle, your records, and the lien on your home or business will advise you that it’s a smart thought to fear the hand of G*d. They can and WILL take . . everything.
CRA can keep you out of your life. Handle with outrageous consideration.
Bottom Line
now you know the answer is this question can you go to jail for not paying child support? But our question is why this situation will be created that someone is getting imprisonment for not giving financial support to his or her child.
Anyways, we hope you have got your answer and don’t have any confusion regarding this topic. Even after that, you can ask any relevant thing that you want to know in the comment section.
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