How does the SALT Deduction work for unmarried homeowners? Will I get back $10,000 in my refund?

The SALT deduction doesn't work quite the way you're thinking. It's not a dollar-for-dollar refund on your taxes. The SALT (State And Local Tax) deduction allows you to deduct up to $10,000 of your state and local taxes from your taxable income. This includes property taxes, state income taxes, and local taxes. The key thing to understand is that it reduces the amount of income that gets taxed, not your tax bill directly. For example, if your taxable income is $75,000 and you claim the full $10,000 SALT deduction, you'll be taxed as if you only made $65,000. How much that saves you depends on your tax bracket. If you're in the 22% tax bracket, that $10,000 deduction would save you about $2,200 in federal taxes (22% of $10,000). Also important to note - you need to itemize deductions on Schedule A to claim the SALT deduction. If your standard deduction is higher (which for 2025 is $14,000 for single filers), then you'd be better off taking the standard deduction instead of itemizing.

I was in a similar situation last year and used taxr.ai to figure out how to maximize our SALT deductions. My boyfriend and I bought a house together, and dealing with the deduction split was really confusing. I uploaded our property tax statements and mortgage docs to https://taxr.ai and they analyzed everything and showed exactly how we should split things to maximize our deductions. They also explained how the deduction would actually impact our refunds based on our tax brackets. Way more helpful than the generic explanations I was finding online.

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai - it was actually super helpful! I uploaded our property tax statements, mortgage interest statements, and our state tax info, and got back a really detailed breakdown. It showed that in my tax bracket (24%), my portion of the SALT deduction would save me about $2,400 rather than the full $10,000 I was expecting. It also recommended the optimal split between me and my partner based on our different tax brackets - I should claim 60% of the property taxes and she should claim 40% to maximize our combined savings. Really cleared things up!

If you're having trouble getting clear answers about your SALT deduction from the IRS, I'd recommend Claimyr. I spent weeks trying to get through to the IRS about a similar SALT deduction question for my unmarried situation. After being on hold forever and getting disconnected multiple times, I tried https://claimyr.com and they got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 30 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent walked me through exactly how the SALT deduction works for unmarried co-owners and confirmed that each person can claim up to $10k based on what they actually paid. Saved me so much stress compared to trying to interpret the tax instructions on my own.

I owe everyone here an apology. After being super skeptical about Claimyr, I decided to try it anyway out of desperation. I had been trying to reach the IRS for THREE WEEKS about my SALT deduction question (unmarried but joint property ownership with my partner). Used the service yesterday, and holy crap - they actually got me through to a real IRS person in about 20 minutes. The agent confirmed that my partner and I can each claim up to our respective $10k limits based on what we each actually paid, and he clarified how it affects our actual refund amount (it's based on our tax brackets, not a direct dollar-for-dollar refund). I'm still shocked this worked. Saved me from taking a day off work to visit an IRS office in person.

One thing nobody mentioned yet - you need to be careful about how you're splitting the property taxes with your partner. If one person pays all the property taxes but you're both on the deed, there could be gift tax implications if it exceeds annual limits. My accountant recommended that we each pay our proportional share directly from our own accounts to create a clear paper trail for the IRS.

Just fyi, I made this exact mistake last year. I thought SALT would give me a huge refund, but it only saved me about $2,400 on my taxes because of my tax bracket. Make sure your itemized deductions exceed your standard deduction or else you won't benefit at all!!!

Great question! I see a lot of people have already covered the basics, but I wanted to add one more perspective since I went through something similar last year. The key thing to remember is that the SALT deduction is just one piece of the itemizing puzzle. Since you mentioned you and your girlfriend just bought the house, don't forget about mortgage interest deduction too! That combined with your SALT deduction might actually push you over the standard deduction threshold and make itemizing worthwhile. Also, keep track of any PMI (private mortgage insurance) payments if you have them - those can be deductible too depending on your income level. And if you made any charitable donations throughout the year, those can be itemized as well. I'd recommend using a tax software that can calculate both scenarios (standard vs itemized) to see which gives you the bigger benefit. Sometimes the difference isn't huge, but every bit helps when you're a new homeowner dealing with all those unexpected expenses! Good luck with your first year of homeownership - it's definitely a learning curve but the tax benefits can be pretty nice once you figure it all out.