Federal Child Support Guidelines Workbooks - Tax Relief Charts

Last revised February 19, 2020

The Department of Justice publication The Federal Child Support Guidelines: Step-by-Step was published May 1, 2006.  It replaced three earlier Department of Justice publications:

• Federal Child Support Guidelines: The Complete Workbook (1997)
• Federal Child Support Guidelines: A Workbook for Parents (1998)
• Federal Child Support Guidelines: A Guide to the New Approach (1997)

The Complete Workbook (1997) included two tax relief charts that are no longer available in the new Step by Step publication: the "Child-care Expenses Tax Relief Chart" and the "Medical Expenses Tax Relief Chart". These charts no longer exist.

As per the Family, Children and Youth Section of the Department of Justice:

"These tax relief charts were removed from the Department of Justice web site because they reflected tax rates from 1999 and were therefore out of date. Due to the sophistication and increased use of computer tax programs since 1999, the demand for the tax relief charts has decreased considerably. The tax relief charts did not reflect individual cases but rather an average of cases and were to be treated only as estimates of the relevant tax reduction, not as exact amounts. For information on how to calculate day care expenses, refer to the Step-By-Step booklet, 'Step 7: Dealing with special expenses'."