topic Mfs due to student loan purpose, for community property state, how to split deductions? in Deductions & credits

Mfs due to student loan purpose, for community property state, how to split deductions?

Duon — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:01:43 GMT

I am doing mfs, due to student loan.

We did itemized deductions.

I realized that community property splitting sections at the end doesn't really ask about deductions.

Do I just go back to individual deduction section and then manually divide them into 50/50 split?

For example charitable donation, I did 21, 000 and my wife did 8,000. With 0.5% floor rule. How do I split them?

Re: Mfs due to student loan purpose, for community property state, how to split deductions?

Opus 17 — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:48:30 GMT

In a community property state, 50/50.

Re: Mfs due to student loan purpose, for community property state, how to split deductions?

Duon — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 18:16:57 GMT

So do you just put thpse information in on deduction section on TurboTax not on community property section correct?

For example for charitable donation if I did 21k and my wife did 9 k.

I will put 15 k on mine and she will put 15k on hers?

Thank you in advance.

And also how do I deal with the floor rule?

Re: Mfs due to student loan purpose, for community property state, how to split deductions?

PatriciaV — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 20:52:03 GMT

Yes, enter the total contributions under Deductions & Credits. Then divide the total equally on the Community Property worksheet.

If you are referring to the AGI limitation (up to 60% for charity), that limit is applied to your separate AGI after it has been adjusted for community property rules.

Remember that if one of you chooses to itemize, you both must itemize on your individual returns.

Re: Mfs due to student loan purpose, for community property state, how to split deductions?

Opus 17 — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:59:19 GMT

@Duon wrote:

And also how do I deal with the floor rule?

There are a number of important limitations to filing MFS and it usually results in higher taxes, since many deductions and credits are reduced or disallowed, especially if you start having kids. It would take a lot more math than I have time to do to figure out whether the lower payments are worth the higher taxes in the long run.

One limitation is that if one spouse itemizes, both must itemize. You can't load all the deductions on one spouse and have the other spouse use the standard deduction. This is even more true in a community property state, where you must split all the deductions 50/50, even if it is bad for one of the spouses to file that way.

The IBR/MFS dilemma is more complicated than it seems and it is not easy to calculate the best answer for a family, especially since loan forgiveness programs are always changing. If you will not be eligible for loan forgiveness, filing MFS to get lower payments is probably a losing proposition. If you will be eligible for some type of forgiveness, then maybe it would save more in the long run by paying higher taxes to get a lower payment until you qualify for forgiveness. But also remember that most forgiven loans are considered taxable income in the year the loan is forgiven.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/college-and-education/can-debt-forgiveness-cause-a-student-loan-tax-bomb/L4hoHzaq2

Re: Mfs due to student loan purpose, for community property state, how to split deductions?

Duon — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:18:19 GMT

Community property section did not have deduction portion.

Therefore I thought it made sense to put manually sum it and divide by half and put it on regular deduction credit .

I ended up not doing it because it is from separate money source.

We will see what they say. I sent them the file by paper. As online submission was not allowed.