SALT deduction when living in separate homes

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
April 7, 2025
1 reply
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I know that if you live in the same home and you file married but filing separately that you and your spouse can only claim half the SALT deduction ( So five thousand instead of 10). My question is how about if each of you has a separate home and do not live with each other? Are you still limited to half the SALT in that case?

I know that for example if you had a qualifying child you could qualify as head of household in that situation and then have I believe the full SALT deduction. I do NOT have a qualifying child but I am still living apart - can I get the full SALT deduction?

Not A Product Question

MinhT1

As you are still married and filing separately. your SALT deduction is limited to $5,000.

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soibeanAuthor

Thank you

Additional question. My wife and I lived apart for the whole year. She has a qualifying child from a previous marriage and is filing as head of household. She is itemizing her deductions. I am filling as married filing separately. Since she is filing as head of household can I use the standard deduction even though she is itemizing ( meaning is this different from the usual rule that you have to do the same thing relative to itemizing or not because she is filing as head of household and not married filing separately like me)

Thanks

IsabellaG

Employee

You would not be able to use the standard deduction if you are married filing separately and your wife is itemizing and filing as Head of Household. Please see this link for an analysis of this issue. Only the individual who qualifies as Head of Household can choose to use the standard deduction instead of itemizing. Also see Publication 501.

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