On Form FL-150, report self-employment income after business expenses in item 7, using separate figures for last month and the monthly average over the last 12 months. Give the requested information for every business and attach either a profit-and-loss statement for the last two years or Schedule C from your last federal tax return, with your Social Security number blacked out.
Irregular wages, overtime, commissions, bonuses, benefits, and other income belong in their own printed rows in item 5. The same two columns apply: what you received last month and the average monthly amount based on the prior 12 months. The complete FormExplainer FL-150 Guide explains every income, expense, asset, and attachment field.
Jump to: Self-employment · Irregular income · Records · Tax returns · Changed income · Checklist
What goes in the self-employment section?
Item 7 asks for income from all businesses after business expenses. It also asks whether you are an owner or sole proprietor, partner, or another type of participant; how many years you have been in the business; the business name; and the type of business.
Complete the requested information separately for each business. A transfer from a business account to a personal account is not automatically the business’s income. Likewise, customer payments are gross receipts, not necessarily the amount left after business expenses.
Gross receipts are the amounts the business receives before subtracting expenses. The self-employment income field asks for the amount after business expenses. For example, $8,000 of receipts minus $3,000 of business expenses leaves $5,000 in this simple arithmetic example. The example does not decide whether a disputed cost is an allowable business expense for court, tax, or accounting purposes.
How do I handle variable or irregular income?
FL-150 uses “last month” and “average monthly” to show both the recent result and the longer pattern. For an item 5 category, add what you received in that category during the last 12 months and divide by 12. Calculate each category separately.
A commission, bonus, seasonal payment, or business profit received only in some months still contributes to the 12-month average. If $6,000 in commissions arrived during the 12-month period, the average monthly commission is $500, even if no commission was received last month. The last-month column may therefore be zero while the average is not.
- Use the actual preceding 12-month period, not a year-to-date total that covers fewer months.
- Separate regular wages, overtime, commissions, and bonuses into the form’s printed rows so the same payment is not counted twice.
- For self-employment, calculate the last month and 12-month average after business expenses using records for the same periods.
- Keep a worksheet showing the dates, amounts, categories, and arithmetic used for each figure.
What supporting records does FL-150 require?
The general instruction above item 5 calls for the last two months of pay stubs and proof of other income. A self-employed person may not have employer pay stubs; do not create a payroll record that does not exist. Use the business-income instruction and the records that accurately document the income source.
Item 7 specifically calls for a profit-and-loss statement for the last two years or Schedule C from the last federal tax return. A P&L identifies business income and expenses for stated dates. Schedule C is the federal form used for profit or loss from a sole proprietorship; not every business files one.
Other useful records can include business bank statements, invoices, payment-processor reports, bookkeeping ledgers, expense receipts, contracts, and records of distributions. A record can help verify an answer even when the form does not direct that every page be attached. Follow the filing, service, privacy, and court-order requirements for the proceeding.
How is a tax return different from current income?
A tax return reports a past tax year. FL-150 also asks for last month and a 12-month average, so the periods may not match. A return can provide important historical information, but it does not automatically establish the current monthly figure.
FL-150’s general instruction is to take the latest federal tax return to the hearing. Item 7 separately permits Schedule C from the last return as an attachment instead of the two-year P&L. That Schedule C option is not an instruction to attach the entire tax return. The form directs filers to black out Social Security numbers; check every copy for private identifiers.
What if income recently changed?
Item 9 asks whether your financial situation changed significantly during the last 12 months and why. Use it to identify the date and nature of a significant change—such as a business opening or closing, lost contract, changed hours, or new income source—without rewriting the historical numbers.
The difference between last month, the 12-month average, and a prior tax year may itself show why dates matter. Keep the actual figures and explain the timeline. Do not choose a different averaging period solely to make the result look more typical.
For a support hearing, California Rule of Court 5.260 generally treats an FL-150 as current when it was completed within the past three months and no facts have changed. A recent declaration can still be outdated if the business or income materially changed.
When should I get accounting or legal help?
General arithmetic is not the same as deciding the treatment of depreciation, owner draws, retained earnings, pass-through income, personal expenses paid by a business, loans, losses, or disputed deductions. Different business entities also use different tax forms. When a number depends on those judgments, ask a qualified accountant or family-law professional to interpret the records rather than forcing them into a category.
Review checklist
- List every business and complete the business name, type, role, and years-in-business fields.
- Use matching dates for last month and the prior 12-month average.
- Separate gross receipts, business expenses, and income after expenses.
- Separate wages, overtime, commissions, bonuses, and other item 5 categories.
- Attach the item 7 P&L or Schedule C option and the other income proof the form requires.
- Explain a significant change in item 9 and check that the declaration remains current.
- Redact Social Security numbers and preserve a complete copy.
Next, use the FormExplainer FL-150 Guide to work through all 20 items, match each attachment to its question, and distinguish records attached to the form from documents brought to a hearing or exchanged in financial disclosures. Keep the current official FL-150 beside you.
Sources checked October 7, 2026: Judicial Council Form FL-150, revised September 1, 2024; California Rules of Court, rules 5.260 and 5.112.1; California Courts support and financial-disclosure guidance; and IRS Schedule C information.