We are married filing separately and live in NJ, which is not a community property state. This is my first time filing separately, so I wanted to better understand how to handle dividends/interest from our accounts when filing separately.
For an account which is only under one of our names, does all income from that account need to be entirely on the named spouse's return, or can some or all of it instead be filed on the other spouse's return?
For an account which is under both of our names, I see that the 1099 only has one of our social security numbers on it. Can I nevertheless put all the dividend and interest income from that joint account on the return for the spouse whose social security number is not on the 1099?
Are the rules (for how income can be split between the returns) different for the NJ return versus the Federal return, or can I just rely on TurboTax to automatically copy all the numbers from Federal->NJ?
What is the best way to indicate on the Schedule B (e.g., interest and dividends sheet) that I am removing the dividend and interest income from that return and instead putting it on the spouse's return? Do I indicate it as a "Nominee Distribution," which is what TurboTax puts on the form if (when adjusting the interest/dividends originally imported from the 1099) I select "I received all or part of these dividends for someone else", or is it better to select "other," or should I just manually type something into the form such as "dividends from joint accounts taxed on spouse's return"?
