Spin off of YM sins post...own a home with DBF

[hawkeyes2001]

I was reading through the YM Sins post and have discovered that I am not the only person to co-own my home with someone that I am not legally married to! I was wondering how all of you claim home related expenses on your taxes? Assuming you file as single, how do you split things? Do you split it 50/50? Does one person take all the deductions?

My brother is our tax accountant and he could not find anything specific in the tax code as to how this has to be done. The IRS only states that if audited you have to be able to prove who paid what. But if you have a joint checking account into which both parties paychecks are deposted and the mortgage payment is deducted is there really any way to prove whose money paid for for what?

[Deleted]

I did this years ago and the first year we put all the interest and taxes on my BF's return to maximize the advantage. (We used the refund for a trip we took together.) After that we split the deductions evenly every year. I spoke with a tax accountant at work at the time and he said that just about any split is OK as long as the total is equal to the actual taxes and interest paid in the year.

[Deleted]

Wouldn't it be worth more to let one person take the whole deduction and let the other take the standard, assuming both parties don't have enough deductions to itemize without the mortgage deduction?

[thyme4change]

The gay folks I know put everything tax related into both their names - house, charitable deductions, personal property taxes, etc. Then, every year they do their taxes with one person claiming everything, and then the other person claiming everything and then turn in the set that has the total lowest tax liability.

[hawkeyes2001]

I have a higher income and therefore I claim all the deductions while DBF takes the standard deduction. I know others that have done this because obviously there is an advantage. However, I also know people that say it is wrong and should be split 50/50. I was just curious what others do.

[thyme4change]

I also know people that say it is wrong

Well - that sounds like an extremely emotional response to a numerical based question. It is only "wrong" if you don't share the benefit from the lower taxes with your DBF - but if there is actually less wealth to share because someone else thinks that paying more taxes combined is "fair" - well, that is just stupid.

I guess in situations where you don't really share money, but do share a house, you could find a way to nickel and dime each other to death, if you wanted to.

[Deleted]

Jan 4, 2011 14:22:36 GMT -5 @pooks1976 said:

Wouldn't it be worth more to let one person take the whole deduction and let the other take the standard, assuming both parties don't have enough deductions to itemize without the mortgage deduction?

Yes, and if I had to do it over again that's what we'd do every year, with some equitable way to split the refund. And I don't know why anyone would call it "wrong". You're not violating any tax laws. Strategies that comply with the tax laws but minimize your liability are just smart money management.

[strive]

I too, have sinned. I own 5 houses with DGF.

Soon to be 7.

everything is split evenly on our taxes.

[gsbrq]

I am in a higher tax bracket than my BF, so I take the full deduction.

The mortgage is paid out of our joint account (along with most other household expenses); each month I deposit the full mortgage payment amount plus a bit extra; he deposits a smaller amount.

I was under the impression that one party can't take the full amount of the deduction unless they paid the full amount of the mortgage--but maybe I'm wrong on that.