Married filing separately how do I report joint investment accounts and rental property? Live in NC so not a common property state. Thanks.

[JohnH2]

You should consider coming to an agreement with your spouse on how to handle this.  If your rental property is jointly owned, an equal split would be reasonable.  One spouse could prepare the Schedule E with the 100% data.  This spouse could include an expense in the amount of one-half of the profit, to correctly state his or her share.  The expense would be captioned,” One-half Schedule E profit reported to co-owner.”  This spouse would need to issue a 1099-MISC to report the half profit to the other co-owner and the IRS.  This would be reported in Box 1, Rents.

With respect to your investment account, an equal split may not be appropriate if the assets are not jointly owned or if one spouse exercises more control than the other.  You would need an agreement with your spouse on how to do this.

[dkshipe]

Thank you.  The investment account and rental property are jointly owned and since we are not divorcing, there is total agreement.  I just didn't know if I could put the rental property on one and maybe the investment on the other, or if I had to split it equally which would be difficult.

[e-John]

there should be some logic to the split.  If one spouse has provided the bulk of the income, do it that way.

[VolvoGirl]

May I ask is there a reason you are filing separately?  Joint is almost always better.  You lose several credits filing MFS.  And Joint has the lowest tax rates.

[dkshipe]

I understand that joint is usually better but wanted to try this scenario and didn't know how to report joint investment (gain/loss) and rental property.