•   The income used in determining a parent's capacity to meet the costs of his or her children might be reduced by the following amounts:

  (a)   the self - support amount (to take account of the parent's need to support himself or herself);

  (b)   a relevant dependent child amount (if the parent cares for a relevant dependent child or step - child of the parent);

  (c)   a multi - case allowance (if the parent has multiple child support cases).

•   The relevant dependent child amount and the multi - case allowance take account of the costs of relevant dependent children, and children in other child support cases, in a similar way to the way in which the costs of the children are worked out for children in a child support case.

•   A parent's adjusted taxable income for a year of income can be reduced under section   44 in respect of a particular child if the parent earns additional income during the first 3 years after separating from the other parent of the child.