interest and real estate taxes

[morrisliberty]

hello,

A married individual who is considered unmarried for head of household itemizies her deductions and she paid 7 months of interest and taxes on personal home and husband paid 5 months of interest and taxes , the husband is filing separately if the husband does not itemize on his return can wife deduct all interest and taxes on her return? The interest and taxes were paid out of a joint account.
thank you

[commentator]

What the husband does is of no concern to the head-of-household qualifed wife. She can itemize or take the standard deduction whichever is better for her tax situation.

However, if she itemizes, the husband (presuming he does not also qualify for head-of-household) would have to itemize as well or take a standard deduction of zero.

If she itemizes, the wife can only deduct the mortage interest and property taxes she paid.

[mwcpa]

I concur, if one is married but meets the requirements to be head of household then the married filing separate rules do not come into play for that person who is head of household.

Generally, as noted, mortgage interest and real property taxes that one is obligated to pay are only deductible to the extent paid.

[nancy65]

The interest and taxes were paid out of a joint account.

Is it really significant which one wrote the check (or made the electronic transfer) when a joint account was used?

[mwcpa]

good point nancy.... some of the facts in the original post kind of contradict each other....

"she paid 7 months of interest and taxes on personal home and husband paid 5 months of interest and taxes"
"The interest and taxes were paid out of a joint account"

[morrisliberty]

hello,

to clarify they were together for the first 5 months of the year and paid the real estate taxes and mortgage interest from the joint account and he moved out of the houseIand they lived apart for 7 months when she paid the real estate taxes and mortgage interest from her account. Can she claim all 12 months of interest and taxes on schedule A of her tax return if he does not itemize on his married filing separately return? And she files as head of household. First if he must itemize does he have to claim his share of interest and taxes or can he allow his wife to claim entire year of expenses because the first 5 months came out a joint account?
thank you

[commentator]

He is entitled to claim the interest and taxes he paid. She is entitled to claim the interest and taxes she paid.

Seven months are clear. Five months, not so much. The question now becomes who put the money into the joint account? If it (the money) were all from just one of them, that one gets the deduction. If they both put money into the joint account then they agree on how to split it up in which case 100% for one and nothing for the other is a possibilitiy.

[nancy65]

"The question now becomes who put the money into the joint account? If it (the money) were all from just one of them, that one gets the deduction."

I don't think that is necessarily true. They were married and it was a joint account. The money belonged to both even if it was all earned by one. IMO the right answer is "they agree on how to split it up in which case 100% for one and nothing for the other is a possibilitiy."

[commentator]

While it is true that a married (or formerly married) couple can pretty much divide up this sort of expenses any way they wish, if one person puts money into a joint account, the money belongs to that person until the other account holder takes it out. At that point, a gift has been made.

Example: I was a co-owner with signature authority of my parents' checking account. I never put a dollar into that account and for years I never signed a check. Since they didn't itemize their deductions, was I entitled to deduct the charitable contributions they made during those years?

If not, why is one spouse entitled to deduct mortgage interest and real estate taxes when all the money in the checking account was contributed by the other spouse? I know the answer. Because, if they agree, they can divide up the deductions any way they want to. Why is that the answer? Because if they don't double-dip, the IRS won't notice or care.

I will modify my statement to read, if all the money was from one person and that person wrote the mortgage payment checks then, technically, that person is the one who gets the deductions for interest and taxes. As noted, if a married couple agrees, they can probably get away with any split they choose.