When a property is jointly
owned by more than one individual, the following tax rules apply to property taxes and mortgage interest:
- For unmarried
couples and unrelated individuals, each taxpayer can only claim the
portion of any expenses, such as mortgage interest or real estate taxes,
that they actually paid
- For a married
couple filing separate returns, they can chose to allocate real estate
taxes and mortgage interest expenses between themselves, in any manner
they choose.
Also, a written statement
would be needed to split these deductions between more than one tax
return. Please read what the IRS has to say about this, as quoted from
IRS Publication 936, Page 9:
"If you and at least one other person
(other than your spouse if you file a joint return) were liable for and paid
interest on a mortgage that was for your home, and the other person received a
Form 1098 showing the interest that was paid during the year, attach a
statement to your return explaining this. Show how much of the interest each of
you paid, and give the name and address of the person who received the form.
Deduct your share of the interest on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 11, and print
“See attached” next to the line. Also, deduct your share of any qualified
mortgage insurance premiums on Schedule A (Form1040), line 13. Similarly, if you
are the payer of record on a mortgage on which there are other borrowers
entitled to a deduction for the interest shown on the Form 1098 you received,
deduct only your share of the interest on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 10. Let
each of the other borrowers know what his or her share is."
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p936.pdf
Similarly, as to Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) program, as unmarried co-owners, you are only able to take the tax credit to the extent that each of you actually made payments toward the purchase of the house. So, for example, if both of your names are on the MCC document, but one of you contributed 60% of the monthly mortgage payments to your lender, over the course of the year, and the other partner contributed 40% of the money paid to the lender (annualized), you would then split the MCC tax credit 60 / 40 between the two of you, on your separately filed income tax returns.
Hopefully this answer makes sense to you, and you can follow the IRS reasoning.
If you have further
questions, encounter any difficulties, or just want to speak with a live tax
expert who can walk you through your TurboTax entries (including the ability to
screen-share with your computer), please feel free to contact us. We
would be happy to help you. Here is a link where you can create a support ticket and reach us:
https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact/
Thank you for asking these important questions.
