Question

Sharing Mortgage Interest and Taxes

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
February 16, 2025
1 reply
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I own a home with my partner, and we file taxes separately. For this home, I would like to take half of the mortgage interest, points, and taxes paid and use them in my tax calculations. My question is, do I also split the "Outstanding Mortgage Principal" in half and put half on my tax form and half on hers? I am up against the 750K/1M limit on deduction, so this calculation significantly changes my tax situation. Thanks in advance for any insight anyone can lend.

VictoriaD75

It depends. To deduct interest on a mortgage, the taxpayer must be legally liable for the debt. No deduction is allowed for payments made for another's obligation if the taxpayer is not liable. Therefore, you both must be on the mortgage in order for the interest to be split to be deductible for each. In that case, you would simply claim half (or any agreed upon percentage) on each return as long as the total deducted does not exceed 100% of the interest expense.

You also mention you are up against the limit on the deduction. Splitting the interest between two taxpayers does not preclude you from this limit. This is a total on the property, not per taxpayer. For mortgage debt incurred on or before December 15, 2017, interest is deductible on the first $1 million ($500,000 for married filing separately) of debt. After December 15, 2017, interest related to the first $750,000 of mortgage debt id deductible.

Deducting Mortgage Interest

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N

NCPERSON1

@bbuchanan99 it depends whose name is on the mortgage AND who made the payments.

"To deduct taxes or interest on Schedule A (Form 1040), Itemized Deductions, you generally must be legally obligated to pay the expense and must have paid the expense during the year"

https://www.irs.gov/faqs/itemized-deductions-standard-deduction/other-deduction-questions/other-deduction-questions-2