sharing a 1098

[Lisa5396]

My son and his fiancé bought a house together that they both live in. Only my son received a form 1098 with his name and social security number on it. He has already done his taxes with this form before he knew they could each report their share. He's going to share the money he saved for the deduction with her since he didn't know they could both report half of it. Should she just not report buying a house on her taxes? Or is it important for him to amend his return?

[Vanessa A · Accepted solution]

No one has to report the 1098 on their return.  It only makes a difference if you have enough deductions to itemize. So if they split the mortgage interest it may end up that neither of them would have enough expenses to itemize or maybe one or both would. 

 Itemized expenses include mortgage interest, state and local taxes up to $10,000, medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your AGI and casualty and losses in excess of 10% of you AGI with the first $100 not counting towards the loss.  Your health insurance and all medical expenses are only deductible for the amount that is over 7.5% of your AGI.  This means if your AGI is $50,000, then the amount that is over $3,750 is deductible.  

Then your total itemized expenses would need to be greater than your standard deduction below in order to benefit from the mortgage interest. 

The 2023 Standard Deductions are as follows:

• Married Filing Joint (MFJ)              $27,700
• Married Filing Separate (MFS)      $13,850
• Head of Household (HOH)             $20,800 
• Single                                                     $13,850                                

Blind and MFJ or MFS add $1,500

Single or HOH if blind add $1,850