Changing to Married Filing Seperate

[GDesi]

We have always filed Married Joint but I'm now thinking i can reduce my tax liability if I change to MFS. Reason is my wife only gets SS and interest income on CD's.

Alos want ot know if I can safely split the interest since my SS# is on 1099 but have both our names.

[AnnetteB6]

If you are asking about splitting mortgage interest, then yes, you can split that if you are both liable to pay the mortgage.

If you are asking about interest income and you are filing a separate return, then the IRS may expect to see all of the interest reported on the return filed with your Social Security number.

One thing you might want to consider is that if you are also receiving Social Security income, then using the Married Filing Separate filing status will cause the Social Security income to be 100% taxable on your return.  

The same would be true of your wife's return.  All of the Social Security would be taxable and a tax return would be required if the income is greater than $5.

See the following TurboTax help article for more information:

Do I need to file a federal return this year?