Boyfriend and I bought a house together, how do we split up mortgage interest and taxes when we file taxes?

Question

Boyfriend and I bought a house together, how do we split up mortgage interest and taxes when we file taxes?

Answer 1

Each of you can deduct the amount you actually paid.  If you split the payments 50-50, then you'd each deduct half of the total interest, and real estate taxes if they are paid through the mortgage payment.  This assumes that you are both on the mortgage and on the title.

Answer 2

Have someone do your taxes professionally the first time, from there you have the guild and can do it yourself.  Safest way to cover all your bases.

Answer 3

You should be paying the interest and taxes in the same % that you own the property...in order to itemize, you must both owe the debt and have paid it.

So, if you own 50% and paid 75%, you would be limited to a 50% deduction (and no one would get the other 25%).

Note, you need to read the schedule A instructions to ensure that the person who's SSN isn't on the 1098 gets proper credit for the interest paid.

Answer 4

The best thing to do is to have the person with the higher income pay the mortgage and real estate taxes, then deduct the entire amount on their tax return.  The other person can take the standard deduction.

For example,

Interest = $7,000

RE Tax = $3,000

If you go halfsies, you each get $5,000.  If your other Schedule A items (state income taxes paid, charity, etc) are $2,000 each, then you'll each get to write off $7,000 on Schedule A ($5,000 + $2,000).

If one person pays mortgage and RE tax, they will write off $10,000+$2,000 or $12,000.  The other person will take the standard deduction of $5,450 since their Schedule A is only $2,000.  Combined, they will write off $17,450...whereas with halfsies, the combined write-off is only $14,000.

Yes, it is legal as long as the person claiming the entire amount pays the entire amount.  Percentage of home ownership is irrelevant.  To compensate, the non-paying person can pay all the utilities, food, and other non-deductible items.

If you do take my advice, make sure the paying person also makes all of the charitable donations.  Any charitable donations by the person taking the standard deduction is wasted.

Answer 5

Get married.  Then the question answers itself!