Is it legal to split mortgage interest and property tax deductions 60/40 between owners?

You absolutely can split the mortgage interest and property tax deductions based on your actual economic contributions to the property! Since you're filing separately and contributing based on a 60/40 split, you can claim those exact percentages on your respective returns. The key is that you're splitting based on your actual financial contribution, which is perfectly legitimate. Even though the 1098 came with just your name, your wife can still claim her 40% portion of these deductions on her return. She would need to include a statement with her return explaining that she paid 40% of the deductible mortgage interest and property taxes, but only you received the Form 1098. Make sure you keep good records of those separate payments from your individual accounts as documentation if the IRS ever has questions.

I ran into this exact same issue last year! My partner and I split our mortgage 70/30 based on our incomes. I found this amazing tool at https://taxr.ai that saved us so much headache when figuring out how to properly document everything. The service analyzed our payment records and mortgage documents, then generated a detailed report showing exactly how to split the deductions properly. It even created the statement my partner needed to submit with his return explaining why he was claiming a portion of the interest when only my name was on the 1098. Definitely worth checking out if you want to make sure everything is done correctly!

Just wanted to follow up about the taxr.ai recommendation. I was skeptical at first, but I decided to give it a try since our situation was pretty complicated with multiple properties and varying ownership percentages. The service was amazing! It analyzed our mortgage statements, bank records, and previous tax returns, then showed us that we'd overpaid nearly $3,200 in taxes over the past two years by not splitting our deductions correctly. It generated all the amendment documentation we needed and walked us through exactly what to file. We're already getting our first refund from the amended return. Wish I'd known about this sooner!

If you're having trouble getting answers from the IRS about this deduction splitting issue, try https://claimyr.com - it completely changed my experience with getting tax questions answered. After spending weeks trying to get through to the IRS about our mortgage deduction split (my husband and I are 55/45 owners), I was ready to give up. With Claimyr, I actually got connected to a real IRS agent in about 20 minutes who confirmed our approach was correct and gave us specific guidance on the documentation needed. You can see how it works in this demo: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent even sent us follow-up documentation that confirmed we could split based on economic contribution rather than legal ownership percentage. Saved us from potentially claiming incorrectly!

I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try it as a last resort since I was desperate for answers about my mortgage interest situation (split 65/35 with my partner). It actually worked! Got connected to an IRS agent in about 45 minutes who confirmed we can split the deductions according to our actual financial contributions, even though the 1098 only has one name. The agent explained exactly what supporting documentation we need to include with the return for the person not named on the form. Saved me from potentially making an expensive mistake on our returns. Sometimes being wrong feels pretty good!

One thing nobody's mentioned yet - if you're splitting the property tax deduction, make sure you're both still itemizing your deductions separately. If one of you is taking the standard deduction, then it might actually be more beneficial for the itemizing spouse to claim a larger percentage (or even 100%) of these deductions. Run the numbers both ways! Sometimes it makes more sense taxwise to deviate from your actual payment percentages, as long as the total claimed between both of you doesn't exceed 100% of what was actually paid.

Has anyone dealt with this situation but with an unmarried couple? My girlfriend and I bought a house last year (both names on mortgage and deed) but I pay 75% and she pays 25%. The 1098 has both our names. Are the rules the same for us as they are for married couples filing separately?

Just to add some additional context that might be helpful - when you're documenting your 60/40 split, make sure you keep records of not just the mortgage payments themselves, but also any related expenses like PMI (private mortgage insurance) if applicable. Those can also be split proportionally based on your contribution percentages. Also, don't forget about the SALT (State and Local Tax) deduction limit of $10,000 if you're itemizing. If your property taxes plus state income taxes exceed this limit, you'll want to strategically plan which spouse claims what portion to maximize your combined tax benefit. Sometimes it makes sense to have one spouse claim the full property tax deduction while the other takes more of the state income tax deduction, rather than splitting everything proportionally. Keep detailed records of all your payments and consider setting up a simple spreadsheet to track the percentages throughout the year - it'll make next year's filing much easier!