My spouse and I are married filing separately (MFS) and live in a community property state. When splitting income amounts, how do we handle odd numbers?
Example:
- My W2 reports $101.00 in wages.
- I want to split this evenly between my wife's return and my return.
- Options
- I report $51.00, and she reports $50.00
- Advantage: Adds to the total $101.00
- Disadvantage: Is not evenly split between returns
- Or, should we both report $51 (i.e. $50.50 rounded up, pursuant to rounding guidelines)
- Advantage: Amount is evenly split between returns
- Disadvantage: Does not properly total to $101.00 after rounding
Thanks for any insight! I know this seems minor, but I have to do this math several times, and just want the convention that I follow to be the right one.
