The amount of interest that we have to pay does not exceed the amount needed to use it as a write off on a joint return.
2007-01-18 04:28:26 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
If you file separately, you must both itemize. One cannot itemize and the other take the standard deduction.
If by splitting the itemizations you are able to owe less tax, then of course do that. Each of you will probably have to come up with more than $5,150 of itemized deductions in order to benefit from filing separately.
The amount of interest owed is supposed to be pro-rated between the spouses according to their income, or according to who actually paid the mortgage.
So try it and see.
2007-01-18 04:36:19 · answer #1 · answered by ninasgramma 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Without getting into the complexity of taxation and mortgages, the bottom line is NO! There are plenty of checks & balances in place to make sure you can't circumvent paying interest. Besides the bank is going to get paid, trust me! You will be able to deduct your interest against your income based on your tax bracket, etc. but I would simply try to pay down the house as soon as possible, despite those that say there are those advantages to deducting interest, there is also a HUGE advantage to owning a house outright without ANY monthly payments. Good luck
2007-01-18 12:33:57 · answer #2 · answered by CSUflyer 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If one of you itemizes, the other has to itemize too, so it sounds like you'd be worse off than just filing jointly and taking the standard deduction.
2007-01-19 00:58:06 · answer #3 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋