Many parents whether custodial or non-custodial are self-employed and have difficulties when their income is questioned in a child support case. NY requires that both parents provide proof of income and provide to the court their Financial Disclosure Affidavit, recent tax returns and W-2s and/or 1099 and recent paystubs.
However, many self-employed persons may or may not receive a "salary" from their business or the salary may only be part of their compensation. If the business has a net profit that will clearly be viewed as income in addition to any salary shown.
What makes the case more difficult is when there are allegations of unreported income and/or improper business deductions taken to lower profits. Unreported income is not being addressed in this blog post as it is a topic all by itself.
So if you are in the situation of having to justify your deductions, then be prepared to establish the percentage of auto use (if that is a deduction) and that car expenses paid are solely for the business or appropriately adjusted for personal vs business usage. Another example is if you work from your home, you cannot properly claim 100% of the utilities, real estate taxes and mortgage payments if you also live in the home.
If your accountant depreciates assets and deducts the depreciation from the business income, understand that the depreciation deduction for child support purposes may not be counted as it is a "paper deduction" not an actual payment to reduce income.
If your business pays or provides you with an expense account if you do not want that counted you will need to show that the monies are used for business not personal expenses.
If the business gross income and profits are reduced be prepared to explain what the causes and reasons are for the lower numbers. Simply saying it is the economy is not specific. There could be new competitors, there could be increased expenses, there could be rising wages, there could be less need for the service or product. Whichever or as many of these reasons that may exist be prepared to explain and, where possible, show proof of the changes.
Don't forget that as a self-employed person you are paying both the employer and the employee portion of social security taxes and therefore you are entitled to a 15.3% deduction for child support calculation on income below the social security income cap and 2.9% on income above the social security income cap.
The burden of proof is on the working parent to support their claims. If that proof is provided then the burden of proof shifts to the other parent to attempt to discredit that proof.