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Public Law 115-97 signed into law on Dec. 22, 2017, commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) provides that effective with respect to any divorce or separation instrument executed after Dec. 31, 2018, or for any such instrument executed before such date and modified after, if the modification expressly provides that the Act applies, alimony payments will no longer be deductible by the payor spouse and includible in the income of the payee spouse. This provision is “permanent,” meaning it does not sunset on Dec. 31, 2025, as do some of the other provisions of the Act. It changed the law regarding alimony payments that had been in effect for over 60 years, since even prior to the enactment of the 1954 version of the Internal Revenue Code that gave rise to Sections 71 and 215 as we know them today.
