How do unmarried co-owners split mortgage interest and property tax deductions on Form 1098?

You're in a common situation! When unmarried couples co-own a home, you actually have some flexibility with how you handle the mortgage interest and property tax deductions. The general rule is that you can deduct the mortgage interest and property taxes that you actually paid. So if you each pay half, you'd typically each deduct half. However, if one person pays more (or even all) of the expenses, then that person can claim the corresponding larger portion of the deduction. The fact that only your partner's SSN is on the 1098 doesn't limit your ability to claim your portion - it just means the IRS automatically matches the form to her return. If you claim your portion, you'll need to indicate on your return that the 1098 was issued showing someone else's SSN. One thing to consider: to take these deductions, you both need to itemize rather than take the standard deduction. If your partner has enough other deductions to itemize while you don't, it might make sense for her to claim more of these expenses. Just make sure you can document that she actually paid those amounts if you get audited.

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I just wanted to follow up about my experience with https://taxr.ai after I checked it out based on the recommendation here. It was super helpful! I uploaded our 1098 and the site walked me through a series of questions about our specific situation (who pays what, whose name is on what documents, etc). It laid out exactly how we should split the deduction and explained why that approach would be best for our specific tax brackets. The best part was the documentation it created - a detailed PDF explaining our situation that we can keep with our tax records. My accountant was impressed with how thorough it was and said it would definitely satisfy the IRS if we ever got questioned about it.

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I'm a tax preparer and see this situation all the time. Just FYI - if you decide to have one person claim 100% of the mortgage interest and property tax, make sure you're handling the actual payments that way too. If you get audited, the IRS will want to see that the person claiming 100% actually paid 100%. The simplest approach is to have one partner reimburse the other, so that one person is effectively paying the entire mortgage. Keep documentation of these transfers. Without this paper trail, you're taking a risk if audited.

Super quick question - does anyone know if this affects the mortgage interest deduction limit? Like, if we both claim part of the interest, do we each get up to the limit amount, or is the limit split between us?

This is such a smart approach to think about optimizing your deductions as a household! You're absolutely right that sometimes it makes more financial sense for one person to claim the full deduction rather than splitting 50/50. Just to add to what others have said - make sure you also consider the state tax implications if you're in a state with income tax. Some states have different rules or limits for mortgage interest deductions that might affect your optimization strategy. Also, since you mentioned you're both on the title, you might want to document your agreement about how you're handling the tax deductions. It's not required, but having a simple written agreement between you two about who claims what can be helpful if questions ever come up later. This is especially useful if you decide to change your approach in future years. The key thing the IRS cares about is that the person claiming the deduction actually paid that portion of the expense, so as long as you set up your payment structure to match your deduction claims, you should be in good shape!