Just a warning based on personal experience - make sure both of you aren't claiming 100% of the interest and taxes! My ex and I both claimed the full amount on our separate returns because we each got a 1098 showing the full amount, and it triggered an audit. Major headache that took months to resolve. We ended up having to amend both returns and split based on our actual payments (which was 50/50 in our case). The IRS was fine with the split once we documented it, but they definitely notice when the same address has double-claimed deductions.

Great question! I went through this exact situation two years ago with my partner. We split our mortgage payments 65/35 and were able to deduct the mortgage interest and property taxes in the same proportion on our federal returns. The key is documentation - keep clear records of who paid what. We set up separate automatic payments from our individual bank accounts to make the paper trail obvious. Your mortgage servicer should provide annual statements (1098 for interest, property tax statements) that you'll both receive, but you only claim your actual portion. One tip: consider whether itemizing makes sense for both of you. In our case, my partner's portion of the deductions plus their other itemizable expenses didn't exceed the standard deduction, so they took the standard deduction while I itemized and claimed my 65% portion. This worked out better tax-wise than if we had both tried to itemize smaller amounts. Also, keep a simple written agreement between yourselves documenting the payment split arrangement - it doesn't need to be fancy, just something showing you both agreed to the percentage breakdown. This helps if there are ever questions down the road.

Former IRS employee here. Just to add some insight - the e-filing requirements are indeed enforced, but enforcement tends to be cyclical based on IRS priorities and resources. Right now there's increased attention on preparer compliance. If your boss has been paper filing for years without consequences, it's not because the requirement isn't real - it's because they haven't been caught yet. The penalties can be substantial, especially if the IRS determines there was "intentional disregard" of known regulations. My advice: document your concerns in writing (email) to your boss. This creates a record that you raised the issue, which could help protect you professionally if there are problems later.

Has anyone actually been fined for this? My dad's been preparing taxes for 30+ years and still does paper filing for about half his clients (probably 150+ returns). He's never had an issue with the IRS about it.

Have you considered filing as "married filing separately" and having your spouse claim them? The rules can sometimes work differently depending on filing status. With MFS, sometimes the income limits work differently.

I've been following this thread and wanted to add something that might help clarify the situation. I work in tax preparation and see this scenario fairly often with clients who have foreign in-laws. The key thing to understand is that for dependency purposes, the IRS looks at gross income from worldwide sources, regardless of where it's taxed. So even though your in-laws' pension is taxed in their home country due to the tax treaty, it still counts toward the $5,050 gross income limit for 2024. However, there are a few things worth double-checking: 1. Make sure you're looking at the gross pension amount before any foreign taxes are withheld 2. Some tax treaties have specific provisions about what constitutes "income" for dependency purposes - though this is rare 3. If either parent has any disability status, there might be exceptions to the gross income test Given what you've described (pension over $6,000), they likely won't qualify as dependents under the gross income test. But definitely verify the exact pension amount first, and consider consulting a tax professional who specializes in international tax issues since treaty provisions can be complex. The support test sounds like you'd easily meet it, and the relationship test is satisfied since they're your in-laws. It's really just that income threshold that's the barrier here.

mine hit at exactly midnight last year with chime. hoping for the same this time

Still waiting here too! 😭 Got Chime and the 2/14 date but nothing yet. Really hoping it drops early like everyone's saying. This is my first year with Chime so fingers crossed it lives up to the hype!

Has anyone considered that the difference might be employer-paid FICA taxes? Some companies pay the employee portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes as a benefit, which would be included in your taxable wages on the W2 but might not show up in your gross pay on paystubs.

I experienced this exact same issue and it drove me crazy for years! After digging deep into my paystubs and W2, I discovered the main culprit was employer-paid health insurance premiums that totaled about $5,200 annually. Here's what I learned: your paystub typically only shows YOUR contributions to benefits (the amount deducted from your paycheck), but your W2 includes the TOTAL value of certain benefits - including what your employer pays on your behalf. The key is looking at Box 12 on your W2 with different letter codes. Code "DD" shows employer-paid health insurance, which is often the biggest contributor to this discrepancy. These amounts are included in your total wages for tax reporting purposes but never appear in your regular paystub calculations. Other common contributors include employer HSA contributions, life insurance premiums over $50k, and certain fringe benefits like parking or transit passes. Even though you don't receive these as cash, they're considered part of your total compensation package. I'd recommend pulling out your W2 and paystub side by side and going through Box 12 line by line - you'll probably find your missing $6,500 right there!