Personal benefits paid through a self-employed individual's business are generally added back to income and grossed up when determining appropriate income for child-support purposes.
The purpose of the child-support income calculation is to identify the parent's true financial capacity rather than simply accept taxable income reported under the Income Tax Act. A business may legitimately deduct an expenditure for tax purposes while all or part of that expenditure provides a personal benefit to the owner—for example, personal vehicle use, housing expenses, meals, utilities, or other personal consumption paid by the business.
Where such expenditures effectively replace expenses the parent otherwise would have paid personally from after-tax income, the benefit is added back. A gross-up may then be necessary to express that tax-free or after-tax economic benefit as an equivalent amount of pre-tax income. Canadian child-support jurisprudence has repeatedly applied this approach to personal benefits funded through a business.
This prevents a self-employed support payor from artificially depressing guideline income by routing personal consumption through deductible business expenses.
Therefore, option D correctly reflects both required adjustments: add the personal benefit to income and gross it up where appropriate.
FPII reference/topic: Family Law — Federal Child Support Guidelines; determination of self-employment income; personal benefits; imputed income.
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