Can you change the automatic 50/50 split for mortgage interest and property tax deductions on married filing separately with TurboTax Deluxe?

[kylewright20]

In MFS, the deduction being tracked is automatically showing 50% of the interest and taxes entered for the deduction.

[MarilynG1]

Yes, if you're in a Community Property state and filing as MFS, TurboTax will automatically split the deduction.

However, you can change the amounts.  If only one person was responsible for the mortgage payment then that person would claim the mortgage interest.  If it was paid out of a joint account, then you would split the amount between the two of you, entering half on each of your returns. 

The person who is listed second will select "My name is not on the 1098, or my name isn't the first one listed".  Remember, if one person itemizes you both must itemize as the other person cannot take the standard deduction. 

Here's more info on Married Filing Separately and How to Compare MFS/MFJ if you're using TurboTax Desktop.

@kylewright20 

[kylewright20]

Thanks Marilyn! I think that was all my understanding and my spouse sees the input options for being listed second on the 1098, but I didn't see any options to change my contribution to the mortgage interest or property tax. Only the final deduction amount was shown as being 50% of what I had entered. This is all for MFS and itemized on both. Do you know if TurboTax Deluxe online still allows this input and if it has the What If worksheet like the desktop version?

[PatriciaV]

You may need to manually change the allocated amounts on each separate return by editing the Form 1098 entry.

There is no What-If worksheet available in TurboTax Online. However, you can download your TurboTax Online return to your computer so you can use TurboTax for Desktop by following these instructions:

How do I save my TurboTax Online return as a tax data file?