|
Posted by Paul Thomas, CPA on April 30, 2009, 8:19 am
Please log in for more thread options
> If the house is jointly owned after divorce and each former spouse (A
> and B) makes half of the mortgage interest and property tax payments,
> but only one of them (A) lives in the house, can they both deduct the
> mortgage interest and property tax that they pay on their own tax
> returns? The rule with mortgage interest is that you can only deduct
> mortgage interest on your primary or second home, but the home is not
> really the primary or second home of the former spouse who no longer
> lives there (B), so I'm confused with whether the payments are
> deductible. Publication 504 suggests that it is, because when B makes
> all the payments, half of the mortgage interest is deductible on their
> return, and the the other half is alimony.
>
> And what about the section 121 exclusion? The former spouse B who
> moves out may lose out on the exclusion if the house is sold after
> more than 3 years. However, IRC 121(d)(3)(B) suggests that the former
> spouse who moves out (B) but still jointly owns the home may get the
> section 121 exclusion anyway because A lives there. Is my reading
> right?
Yes.
--
Paul Thomas, CPA
Watkinsville, Georgia
--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
|