Allocation of Community Income in filing year of divorce - Texas

[MattC747]

I was divorced in Dec 2024 and both myself and my ex-spouse live in Texas (Community Property state).  I am filing my 2024 return as Head of Household.  My understanding is that I need to allocate 50% of my income (wages from W-2) and withholdings to my ex-spouse for her to include on her individual return.  So for my return I would take 50% of the value that is in my W-2 Box 1 and 50% of the value of W-2 Box 2 and then include 50% of my ex-spouses W-2 income and withholdings to my return in order to arrive at the correct allocated income and withholdings to include in my filing.  

I also understand that I would need to include Form 8958 to show the allocation calculations with my return.

I am just looking to validate that this is the correct process to represent the income allocation.  Thanks in advance for any guidance.

[MaryK4]

Yes, you will file separate returns and need to complete the 8958.  See Married Filing Separately in community property states.

[JanAug]

Sorry, @MaryK4  but your answer is incorrect.  Federal Filing Status and allocation (or not) of income are both determined by marital status on December 31, 2024.  Perhaps you did not correctly read the question.  The OP clearly stated they were divorced IN 2024.  

The correct answer from a different employee tax expert is in a different post:  Re: I was divorced in 2024 in a community prprty state I need to claim half my exs income and he ... (note that in this case, the OP later clarified that allocation was required by their decree). 

[JanAug]

@MattC747 , I think that this post will answer your question more accurately:  Re: I was divorced in 2024 in a community prprty state I need to claim half my exs income and he ...    In this case, the first answer was correct based on the original question.  The OP then clarified that their divorce decree required income splitting for part of 2024, which means that the terms of the decree must be followed first.  HOWEVER, it does NOT mean that the parties are Married Filing Separately!  They (and you) will file according to their marital status on December 31.  For you, that means Head of Household.  This is true even if a divorce is legally final before midnight on December 31! 

If your divorce decree does not specifically call for splitting income, you will report only your separate wage income and withholding for all of 2024 unless there is some kind of law in Texas requiring an allocation when the decree is silent.  So I guess I should ask how you came to the "understanding" that you each had to allocate 50% of your wages and withholding between yourselves?   If you figured it was logical, that's understandable - but in this case, pure mathematical logic was not taken into account when this piece of tax code was written - I would say that it's based more on practicality - so that ex-spouses are not required to communicate about their taxes months after the divorce is final.  

JanA, CPA (retired)