Married Filing Separately and Home Energy Credit

[jjberge]

My spouse and I are filing Married Filing Separately this year. We made improvements to the windows of our house using joint funds. If I say that we each paid for half of the improvements, we each only get a credit of $13. However, if I say that only one of us paid for the improvements fully, that person gets a credit of $200. Are we required to divide it if we paid for the improvements with joint funds?

[IsabellaG]

Unless you live in a community property state, you can divide your expenses any way on which you both agree. So one person can claim all of the energy credit while the other spouse claims none.