Purchased home with fiancé - do we file taxes together or separate for mortgage deductions?

My fiancé and I are getting married later this year (2024). We bought our first home together back in May 2023, and both our names are on the mortgage. We've always filed our taxes separately in the past, but now I'm confused about how to handle the house on our tax returns. The mortgage interest statement (I think it's a Form 1098?) only has my social security number on it, not his, even though we both pay the mortgage. How do we correctly report this for our 2023 taxes? Do we each claim part of the mortgage interest and property taxes? Does only the person whose SSN is on the form get to claim it? We want to make sure we're doing this right and getting all the deductions we're entitled to. Any advice would be really helpful since we're filing soon!

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31 comments

Kaitlyn Otto

•8M

Great question! This is a common situation for unmarried couples who buy property together. Since you weren't married in 2023, you'll still file your taxes separately (as single, not as "married filing separately" which is different). For the mortgage interest deduction, even though both of you are paying the mortgage, the IRS typically looks at whose SSN is on the Form 1098 Mortgage Interest Statement. If only your SSN is on the 1098, there are a couple approaches: 1) You can claim 100% of the mortgage interest and property taxes if you paid them (even if your fiancé reimbursed you), or 2) You can each claim a portion based on how much each of you actually paid. For option 2, you would claim your portion on Schedule A, and your fiancé would need to add a statement to his return explaining why he's claiming mortgage interest that isn't reported under his SSN. For your 2024 taxes (filed in 2025), things will change once you're married, as you'll need to decide whether to file jointly or married filing separately.

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Axel Far

•8M

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but unfortunately wedding expenses aren't tax deductible regardless of when you pay them. The IRS considers wedding costs to be personal expenses, not business expenses or charitable contributions. About the "marriage penalty" - it still exists in some cases, but it's less common under current tax laws. The penalty typically affects couples where both partners earn similar high incomes. If one of you earns significantly more than the other, you might actually get a "marriage bonus" with lower total taxes after marriage. The best approach is to run a tax projection for both filing jointly and filing separately once you're married (using your estimated incomes for 2025) to see which gives you the better outcome. Most tax software can help with this, or a tax professional could run these numbers for you.

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Kaitlyn Otto

•8M

For your first question, claiming 100% on your return when your fiancé paid half wouldn't be technically correct, but it's often the simpler approach if you're filing first or if you jointly manage finances. Some couples choose this method for simplicity, especially if the tax benefit mostly evens out between both people. Your fiancé would need to attach a simple written statement to his tax return if he claims his portion. The statement should explain that he paid X% of the mortgage interest and property taxes for the property address, but the Form 1098 was issued solely in your name/SSN. No specific IRS form exists for this - just a clear explanation. He should also include a copy of the 1098 with his return if filing by mail.

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Axel Far

•8M

Wedding venue costs are strictly personal expenses - they're not deductible as entertainment or event expenses because those categories only apply to legitimate business activities. A wedding is considered a personal life event by the IRS, no matter how much it costs! Regarding investments, married couples filing jointly may face higher capital gains taxes if your combined income pushes you into a higher capital gains tax bracket. For 2023, the 15% capital gains rate applies to income between $44,626-$492,300 for joint filers, but only up to $44,625-$246,150 for single filers. So yes, combining incomes could potentially push your capital gains into a higher bracket. Consider timing your investment sales strategically across tax years to minimize this impact.

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Jasmine Hernandez

•8M

After my girlfriend and I bought our house last year, I was in the exact same situation! We were so confused about the mortgage interest deduction until I found https://taxr.ai which basically saved our sanity. I uploaded our mortgage documents and ownership papers, and it analyzed everything and showed us exactly how to split the deductions correctly. What was super helpful was that it explained how to handle the property tax deduction too, which we would have done completely wrong. It also created the statement my girlfriend needed since her SSN wasn't on the 1098. The service walks you through all these joint ownership situations that regular tax software doesn't really explain well.

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Luis Johnson

•8M

I just went through the same confusion last year. I found https://taxr.ai invaluable for wedding expense questions. I uploaded our venue contract and asked if any portion was deductible, and it analyzed the entire document and broke down exactly why wedding expenses aren't deductible. What was really helpful though was that it identified other tax planning opportunities related to our marriage that I hadn't considered. It showed us how to time our stock sales before and after the wedding date to minimize capital gains impact. We also learned that my wife's student loan interest deduction would be affected by filing jointly, which we wouldn't have realized otherwise.

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Jasmine Hernandez

•8M

Yes, it absolutely helped with the itemize vs. standard deduction question! It analyzed our mortgage interest, property taxes, and other potential deductions, then compared it to our standard deduction amount. For us, it turned out only one of us benefited from itemizing while the other was better off with the standard deduction. Regarding security, I was hesitant too at first. They use bank-level encryption and you can delete your documents after getting your answer. You don't need to provide full tax returns - just the specific documents related to your question. I was really impressed with how they handled privacy concerns.

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Luis Johnson

•8M

Yes, it definitely helped with W-4 planning! It analyzed our current withholdings based on our pay stubs and projected what our joint tax liability would be. Then it gave specific recommendations for how to adjust our W-4s to avoid a surprise tax bill. We would have been under-withheld by about $3,700 without making those changes. For charitable donations instead of wedding gifts, it confirmed that these are deductible - but the deduction goes to whoever actually makes the donation. So if your guests donate directly to the charity, they get the deduction. If the donations come to you first and then you donate them, you can claim the deduction. Either way, the service helped clarify exactly how to document these properly.

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Ellie Kim

•8M

I finally tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and wow - I wish I'd known about this sooner! My partner and I were completely confused about how to handle our mortgage on our taxes. The service analyzed our situation and showed me that I shouldn't itemize this year since our combined mortgage interest and property taxes were still lower than the standard deduction. It saved me from making a costly mistake! The document analyzer flagged that our property tax assessment had an error too, which we're now getting corrected. That alone will save us about $600. Definitely worth checking out if you own property with someone you're not married to - the tax rules are so much more complicated than I realized!

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Alina Rosenthal

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I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here, and it was exactly what I needed for my wedding tax questions! It helped me understand that while my wedding deposit wasn't deductible, there were several tax implications I hadn't considered. The document analyzer found language in our venue contract about a potential business use deduction I could take for a small portion of the space (we're hosting a professional networking event the day before). It also highlighted that the timing of our wedding (December 2024 vs January 2025) would significantly affect our first year of taxes as a married couple. Changing our date by just two weeks would save us approximately $3,200 in taxes! None of the standard tax websites explained these nuances clearly.

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Finnegan Gunn

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Finnegan Gunn

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Oliver Cheng

•8M

I was completely wrong about Claimyr! After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it as a last resort because I couldn't get a straight answer about how to handle our vacation property taxes. Got a call back in about 20 minutes with an actual IRS agent who knew exactly what to do with our situation. The agent confirmed exactly how to split property tax deductions for unmarried co-owners and explained which forms we needed to include. Saved me from making a big mistake on our returns that would have cost us over $1,200 in missed deductions. I'm usually the last person to recommend services, but this one actually delivered what it promised.

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Taylor To

•8M

Just wanted to add something important - make sure you're coordinating with your fiancé on whether you're both itemizing or taking the standard deduction. My partner and I messed this up last year. If one of you itemizes and claims part of the mortgage interest/property tax, but the other takes the standard deduction, you might be leaving money on the table. Run the numbers both ways! Sometimes it makes sense for the higher-income person to claim all the housing expenses and itemize while the other takes the standard deduction. Also, congratulations on the house and upcoming wedding! 🎉

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Taylor To

•8M

You don't necessarily need elaborate documentation for this approach, but it helps to have a paper trail. The simplest way is to have all mortgage payments come from your account, and then your fiancé can transfer their share to you as "rent" or household expense reimbursement rather than directly toward the mortgage. Some couples also draft a simple agreement stating that for tax purposes, one person is taking full responsibility for the mortgage payments even though you share costs. This isn't required, but it's good documentation if you're ever questioned. The key is consistency - decide on your approach and stick with it across tax years until your situation changes.

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StarStrider

•5M

This is such a helpful thread! I'm in a similar situation - my partner and I bought a house last year but aren't married yet. One thing I wanted to add is about property tax payments. Even if your mortgage company handles the property tax payments through escrow, you can still deduct those taxes on your return. Make sure to check your annual escrow statement from your lender - it should show exactly how much was paid in property taxes for the year. This amount can be deducted separately from the mortgage interest, and the same rules apply about splitting it between you and your fiancé if you're both contributing to the mortgage payments. Also, don't forget about any points you paid when you got the mortgage - those are typically deductible in the year you bought the house if it was your primary residence. The points would be shown on your HUD-1 settlement statement or Closing Disclosure from when you purchased. Good luck with your taxes and congratulations on the house! The first year of homeownership taxes can be confusing but you'll get the hang of it.

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Faith Kingston

•2M

Thank you for mentioning the points deduction! I completely forgot about that. We did pay points at closing to get a lower interest rate, and you're right - I can see them on our closing documents. One quick question about the property taxes through escrow - do I use the amount that was actually paid to the county during 2023, or the amount that was deposited into escrow during 2023? Our escrow analysis shows these are slightly different amounts because of how the timing worked out with our closing date. Also, does anyone know if the property tax deduction is subject to the $10,000 SALT cap when filing as single? I know married couples are limited to $10k total, but I'm not sure how it works for unmarried people who own property together.

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