topic Claiming deductions on a house as a Joint Tenant in Deductions & credits

Claiming deductions on a house as a Joint Tenant

Ellie267 — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 23:27:59 GMT

My fiance and I own our house. I believe we are considered joint tenants. We file taxes separately. We evenly split the costs for everything related to the house.

How do we each enter deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes paid? I think we should evenly divide both the mortgage interest and property taxes found on Form 1098. When entering this into TurboTax, however, only mortgage interest entry box allows me to note that "The interest amount I entered is different than what's on my 1098" -- the property tax entry box doesn't have the option for making a similar note. How should I note a difference from the 1098 in *both* mortgage interest and property taxes in TurboTax?

Re: Claiming deductions on a house as a Joint Tenant

MaryK4 — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 23:43:26 GMT

If you indicated the amount was different than on the 1098 for mortgage interest, you would only have to enter the amount for the taxes as your share ( you do not have to indicate separate).

Re: Claiming deductions on a house as a Joint Tenant

Ellie267 — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 23:56:50 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

Since we split the house costs, is splitting both the mortgage interest and property tax deduction the advised way to file?

Re: Claiming deductions on a house as a Joint Tenant

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 00:02:04 GMT

yes. you can't take a deduction for what you haven't paid in most cases.

Re: Claiming deductions on a house as a Joint Tenant

ThomasM125 — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 00:07:50 GMT

You may find that splitting the property tax and mortgage interest does not allow either or both of you to have enough deductions to itemize. In that case, one of you could take all of the deduction, but that would mean the other taxpayer would not get any deduction, as you must both either itemize or take the standard deduction.

So, you could try it different ways, but you will probably find it is best to split it, but that may result in you both taking the standard deduction so in that case it wouldn't matter anyways.