Determining the income of a self-employed payor can be cumbersome. The courts have recently dealt with the issue of calculating the income of a self-employed payor in the Glace v. Francis, 2015 ONCJ 536 decision. In that decision, the Honourable Madam Justice Starr brought light to the decision of Dickey v. Morrel in which the obligations of a self-employed payor attempting to establish his or her income are set out.
The payor has to establish that the business deductions from gross income should not be taken into account in the calculation of income for support purposes. For this adequate and comprehensive records of income and expenses need to be produced and disclosed. This does not mean audited statements, but it does mean a package from which the court can draw conclusions about the payor’s income.