Mfsand hh

[TAX4US]

TP's are Virginia Residents. They seperated in April 2013. He stayed in the house she left and took the kid. As I see a possible mFS for him and HH for her. Problem now is can He take all the mortgage interest? Note and deed in both names. She continued to help pay the mortgage so as not to go into default. They make about 90k each.



Or do I have to allocate based on income? I can seperate every thing else on schedule A however it appears her standard is higher than her Schedule A.



Some thoughts on this please.

THANKS

[taxea]

TP's are Virginia Residents. They seperated in April 2013. He stayed in the house she left and took the kid. As I see a possible mFS for him and HH for her. Problem now is can He take all the mortgage interest? Note and deed in both names. She continued to help pay the mortgage so as not to go into default. They make about 90k each.



Or do I have to allocate based on income? I can seperate every thing else on schedule A however it appears her standard is higher than her Schedule A.



Some thoughts on this please.

THANKS

1 do they have court documents for a separation or divorce-if not they are both MFS
2. He can take the portion of the mortgage interest that he paid. She can take what she paid. Sch A deductions are not allocated by income they are allocated by amount paid by each spouse
3. If either standard deduction is higher that the deductions that's the breaks.

With a court document of separation or divorce he files Single and she files HH.

[Gary2]

1 do they have court documents for a separation or divorce-if not they are both MFS
...
With a court document of separation or divorce he files Single and she files HH.

The separation was in April. If she qualifies for HoH at all, she'll qualify to be considered unmarried for HoH purposes, and thus can file that way with or without the court document.

We don't have enough info to confirm that she qualifies, but there's nothing to indicate that she can't qualify.

[TAX4US]

She will qualify as HH. What I was trying to figure out is can I allocate the home mortgage interest to him in whole since it waspaid by both. This is the only deduction that makes a difference in his return since her standard will be higher due to the hh status.

[Lion]

He can deduct only what he is legally obligated to pay and does in fact pay.

Did the payments come from a joint checking account?

[TAX4US]

Most of the payments came from a joint account. She put $ in he put $ in to cover expences of the home.

[New York Enrolled Agent]

She will qualify as HH. What I was trying to figure out is can I allocate the home mortgage interest to him in whole since it waspaid by both. This is the only deduction that makes a difference in his return since her standard will be higher due to the hh status.

See if Revenue Ruling 71-268 is helpful to answer your question.

[RitaB]

Married folks

She will qualify as HH...This is the only deduction that makes a difference in his return since her standard will be higher due to the hh status.

I believe if he itemizes, her standard deduction is zero.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Six-Facts-about-Choosing-the-Standard-or-Itemized-Deductions

[TaxmannEA]

I believe if he itemizes, her standard deduction is zero.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Six-Facts-abo...zed-Deductions

I'll have to disagree with you. If she files as MFS, then she would be forced to itemize, but filing as HOH means that she can use Standard. The forced itemized deduction only applies if the TP's status is MFS.

[RitaB]

Oh, yeah

I'll have to disagree with you. If she files as MFS, then she would be forced to itemize, but filing as HOH means that she can use Standard. The forced itemized deduction only applies if the TP's status is MFS.

Oh, yeah, you're right. My bad.

"The head of household filing status allows you to choose the standard deduction even if your spouse chooses to itemize deductions."