How to properly handle co-owner mortgage 1098 form when only one person made all payments?

This is actually pretty common! When a 1098 form is issued to co-borrowers, the mortgage interest should be divided based on who actually made the payments. In your case, since your partner paid 100% of the mortgage, they should claim 100% of the mortgage interest deduction on their tax return. You don't need to report the 1098 on your return at all. The IRS understands that co-borrowers may split payments differently, and they don't expect each person listed on a 1098 to report a portion. What matters is that the total amount reported by all borrowers doesn't exceed what's shown on the 1098. Your tax professional was right in their advice, even if they seemed uncertain. Since you didn't actually pay any mortgage interest, you shouldn't claim any deduction. Your partner should keep a copy of the 1098 with their tax records to substantiate their deduction if needed.

I had this exact same issue last year and found an amazing tool that helped me understand exactly how to handle it. I used https://taxr.ai to analyze my 1098 form situation, uploaded my documents, and got a detailed explanation about how to properly split mortgage interest between co-owners. What I learned was that you don't need to report anything since you didn't make payments, but having documentation is key. The tool analyzed my mortgage documents and tax forms and explained that the person who actually pays the mortgage interest is the one who gets the deduction - regardless of whose names are on the form. It saved me a ton of worry because I was afraid of getting audited too!

Just wanted to follow up - I decided to try taxr.ai after my initial skepticism and I'm really glad I did. My situation was similar but I had made some payments toward our mortgage (about 25%) while my partner paid the rest. The tool analyzed our payment records and mortgage statements and gave me a clear breakdown of exactly how much I could claim. It even provided a detailed report I could save with my tax records explaining how we allocated the mortgage interest. What surprised me was how it flagged that I could still claim my portion of property taxes too, which my regular tax software completely missed. Definitely more helpful than just Googling since it was tailored to my exact situation.

Hey everyone, I've been lurking in this thread because I'm in a similar boat but with an additional complication - I've been trying to call the IRS for clarification for WEEKS and can't get through! After my 10th attempt of waiting on hold for hours, I tried https://claimyr.com and it was a game changer. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c but basically they hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is about to pick up. I finally spoke with an IRS agent who confirmed what others have said here - the person who makes the payments gets the deduction, regardless of who's named on the 1098. The agent also mentioned I should keep records showing my partner made all the payments just in case there's any question later.

Ok I have to eat my words here. After my skeptical comment, I was still desperate for answers about my mortgage interest problem, so I tried that Claimyr service. Within 45 minutes, I was actually talking to an IRS representative instead of listening to their hold music for hours. The agent explained that in co-owner situations, you should have documentation of who paid what percentage of the mortgage. In my case, I had cancelled checks showing I paid about 40% of our mortgage while my partner paid 60%, so we should split the 1098 interest accordingly. She also told me that if only one person made payments (like in the original poster's case), then only that person should claim the deduction - exactly what everyone here said. I'm still not a fan of the IRS, but at least I got a clear answer without wasting an entire day on hold.

One thing nobody's mentioned - you should check whether you're actually itemizing deductions in the first place. With the standard deduction being so high now ($12,950 for single filers in 2022), many people don't even benefit from mortgage interest deductions anymore unless you have a lot of other itemized deductions too. If you're taking the standard deduction, this whole issue becomes moot since you wouldn't be claiming the mortgage interest anyway. Might save you a lot of worry if that's your situation!

Just a heads up - you mentioned "fiancé" in your post. If you're planning to get married this year, think ahead about how this will change for next year's taxes. Once married, if you file jointly, this whole issue goes away since you'll file one return together. But if you choose married filing separately, you'll need to be very clear about who paid what, as MFS has some special rules around deductions.