Retirement tax questions
IRS form 8379 Injured Spouse Allocation is used to allocate the income, deductions and credits of the tax return between the taxpayer and spouse. The final allocation may look something like this.
We are not able to view your tax return or the injured spouse worksheet but, I assume that line 15 is referring to the standard deduction used in the Federal 1040 tax return or the itemized deductions used in the Federal 1040 tax return. The number to be allocated would be found on line 12 of the Federal 1040 tax return.
In many cases, the standard deduction would be allocated 50% to the taxpayer and 50% to the spouse.
For itemized deductions, the deductions may be assigned to one or the other taxpayer if that deduction was paid only by that taxpayer.
For instance, if only one taxpayer owns the home and makes the mortgage payment, only that taxpayer would be given credit for mortgage interest paid. Other itemized deductions not assigned to one taxpayer or the other would likely (but are not required) be allocated 50% to the taxpayer and 50% to the spouse.
