Filling out Form 8958 - still confused.

[loopless]

My wife and I reside in CA. Ours is a late in life marriage so we have separate incomes, separate investments separate bank accounts and have no “joint” income stream.

We are filing separately as it actually makes sense for us. Clearly both of us have a 8958 to fill out .Do they  have to be mirror images of each other, or am I missing something here again. Do I, for example in box 1, sum up our W2 wages and divide by 2 , or do I put our actual individual different W2 wages to reflect the reality of our separate returns.

[JohnB5677]

Yes, When doing a Community Property allocation you will take the TOTAL for the community property for each category then divide it in half.  Each spouse will add or subtract to make up the difference of the half. 

For example:

Spouse (1)  made $80,000 and Spouse (2) made $120,000 the total wages are $200,000.  One-half will be allocated to each spouse, which is $100,000 to each.

You would add $20K to Spouse (1) and subtract $20K from Spouse (2).  You must do this in every category.

California is a community property state. In plain English, this means that generally, property acquired during the marriage by either spouse is presumed to be owned by each spouse equally. Community property states usually require that your income be split 50-50. 

[loopless]

Thanks for the example. 

But it is still not clear to me how I would fill out 8958
Focusing on 8958 Box 1 "Wages (each employer)" using your example.

Here is one way I could fill this out.

Wages ( each employer)	A (total amount)	B ( my SSN)	C (spouse SSN)
My employer	120	60	60
Spouse employer	80	40	40

Does what I enter here have any effect on our actual tax returns?
I understand the intent of "community property" but not sure why I can't enter something like the table below where 100% is allocated to the person that earned it which is how the tax is actually calculated on our returns?

Wages ( each employer)	A (total amount)	B ( my SSN)	C (spouse SSN)
My employer	120	120	0
Spouse employer	80	0	80

[RobertB4444]

Because, @loopless, that isn't how it works in community property states.  Everything gets cut down the middle so that your tax returns are mirror images of one another.  Your example is exactly how it works in every non-community property state.  

If what you are trying to do is keep your property separate for the sake of your families you should consult an attorney on the best way to do that.