I do some pretty easy, straight forward tax returns for some of my friends. One of them recently bought a house and I told him it would be better to claim the first time homebuyer tax credit by amending his 2008 return instead of waiting to receive it when he files for 2009. This is pretty straight forward, I actually did it for myself this year. However, he purchased the house jointly with his girlfriend, so I am not exactly sure how to go about getting the credit since they do not file together. Can one of them claim the credit on their amended 2008 return, or do they have to split it since they cannot file jointly? Also, for their 2009 returns, could I just claim the household deductions (mortgage interest, property tax, etc.) on whoever's return it would benefit more? Thanks.

AtlantaTaxExpert

They split the Credit, with each getting $4,000 on their own individual amended return. This assumes that the house ownership is 50-50.

On their 2009 returns, they also split the mortgage interest and property tax deduction based on the ownership percentage.

lost??

Thanks for your response, but is it possible for one of them to just claim the credit and future deductions? I ran it by them and they just want to keep it simple. Thanks.

AtlantaTaxExpert

Negative; the house will be in BOTH of their names and thus the credit must be split equally.

Now, when it comes to the property taxes and mortgage interest, if only ONE of them pays the mortgage payment and/or property taxes, then that one person can claim ALL of the deduction.

If they share these expenses, then they need to claim the deductions based on the percentage of their payment.

lost??

Got ya, thanks for your help.

AtlantaTaxExpert

Glad to help!