Question

Married Filing Separately - Should my partner say yes to "owning a home in 2020?"

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 8, 2021
1 reply
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My wife and owned a house in 2020 and I paid the mortgage/interest/tax/etc. for the property.

I have added it to my return, but I'm unsure of how to answer the question of "Did you own a home in 2020" for my wife.

She is on the mortgage/etc, so she is an owner but didn't have any payments. So how would I answer that question? Is it "yes" but didn't make any mortgage/tax payments?

M

Mike9241

is your partner on the title? then yes. if not, there is a concept of equitable ownership which means that the person acted like an owner - paying the expenses, mortgage and was involved in taking care of the property.

under the tax laws an equitable owner is treated as an owner, so the question should be answered yes.

however, answer no if not itemizing. the purpose of the question is so Turbotax will ask questions about mortgages and real estate taxes. please note that for MFS if one itemizes both must itemize. the same is true if one uses the standard deduction. both must do so.