Discussion:Forcing spouse to itemize
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| Revision as of 13:32, 25 March 2008 RoyDaleOne (Talk | contribs) (Note, taking a s) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 00:09, 26 September 2008 Jokadah (Talk | contribs) (So there seems t) Next diff → |
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| If either spouse itemizes, the other spouse must itemize. | If either spouse itemizes, the other spouse must itemize. | ||
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| + | {{ForumReplyPost|UserID=Jokadah|Date=26 September 2008|Text=So there seems to be conflicting answers. Here's my question, husband and wife seperate in June, 2007. He stays in house and pays mortgage, she moves in with boyfriend with both children. Can she file HOH and not itemize? Can he file MFS and itemize. I'm in California which is a community property state. Thanks for your help.}} | ||
Revision as of 00:09, 26 September 2008
Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Forcing spouse to itemize
| 20 February 2006 | |
| Since one spouse itemizing in a MFS situation forces the other spouse to do the same, what happens when there is no communication between the spouses for one to find out what the other is doing? Is there any provision for this in allowing one spouse to take the SD?LJACPA 15:56, 20 February 2006 (CST) | |
| 21 February 2006 | |
| The situation I have here is one filed MFS and the other filed S. They were legally separated so per Federal Tax Law they were S. The one that filed S took the SD and was later sent notice that they were not allowed the SD because the one the filed MFS filed first. Go figure but that is the way they looked at it.
If they are considered married by Dec. 31 then they both should file MFS and it looks like the one filing first sets the precedence as to what the other claims, itemizing or SD, communicating or not.. There is no provision that would allow one to itemize and one to take the SD except possibly in a Community property state. If you live in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin and file separately, your income may be considered separate income or community income for income tax purposes. See Publication 555, Community Property. | |
| 21 February 2006 | |
| Legal separations are extremely rare. A legal separation is an order signed by a judge terminating marital rights and obligations of both spouses. For all practical purposes, the judge has dissolved the marriage, except for the fact that the parties are not free to remarry. This is not to confused with a couple living under a separation agreement.
If one spouse filed as MFS, that would tend to suggest that they do not have a legal separation order signed by a judge. | |
| 21 February 2006 | |
| Publication 501 states “You are considered unmarried for the whole year if, on the last day of your tax year, you are unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree.”
Legal separation is either by divorce decree or separate maintenance decree, neither is rare in this country. The situation here is they are legally separated by a separate maintenance decree that has been signed by a judge. Neither one should be filing MFS per Federal Tax Law. The one filing MFS did nothing but flag the one that filed S. Now the burden of proof is on the one filing S. | |
| 21 February 2006 | |
| Well, that got off topic real quickly. Maybe I should have said to begin with that they are NOT legally separated at year-end and must file MFS (no dependents involved). Back to my original question, what if my client (the wife) files MFS and takes the SD and her spouse files MFS and itemizes? I have heard before what Atlsouth mentioned regarding whoever files first, wins, so to speak. But I have no proof or anything to substantiate that. Any help? | |
| 22 March 2008 | |
| I know that MFS forces each to itemize or else one has a standard deduction of zero. What do I do for the separated wife, claiming HOH? Husband will file MFS, taking all deductions for house, i.e. taxes,mortgage....Can she still claim the Standard Deduction? or is she also forced the either "FIND" some medical,charity,business deductions so as to NOT have zero deductions? (She is claiming son.) | |
| 22 March 2008 | |
| Since W is filing HOH, she can claim the standard deduction. | |
| 22 March 2008 | |
| The Wizard beat me to it. Agree with him/her. As long as the rules regarding HOH are met there should be no problem. | |
Scottycoyote (talk|edits) said: | 22 March 2008 |
| a little tweak on that hoh/mfs situation........i had one this year where it was the HOH spouse who had enough to itemize, and that forces the mfs spouse to itemize as well, which i thought was a lil unfair. | |
| 24 March 2008 | |
| What happens when both were still living together at end of 2007 however now H wants to file MFS. There is no issue of S vs. Itemize since not enough even to itemize. The Key Q, and since they both live in WA State, is how do you report their respective income? W has FT job with W/H where H has Sch C and Rentals. Through research I understand you split up all community income 50/50 and if any separate income earned to record to appropriate T/P. So W's W-2 and Fed W/H would be split between them..obviously it would be tax benefical to file MFJ...now to convince both of them!
Any comments or someone from community state who has had this type of client(s)? Thanks for any info. | |
| 24 March 2008 | |
| With MFS, you are not 'forced to itemize' if neither does. But if one itemized, the other must too. It isn't a first to file issue. If the first to file takes the SD, and the second itemizes, the IRS will go after the one that took the SD. | |
| 24 March 2008 | |
| I'm working with the wife, who has no contact with husband. They are separated but still married and will be using married filing separate status.
The wife asked me to call husband to find out whether he is itemizing deductions, which I did, but I haven't heard back, and probably won't. If we file for her itemizing her deductions, it costs her about $300 in taxes more than if we take the standard deduction. Assuming we don't hear back from the husband before we need to file the return, should we take the standard deduction, or should we itemize? If he itemizes & we take the standard deduction, would we expect to receive a notice from the IRS and be charged additional taxes? Would this be a situation where there could be penalties for the client or myself? Thanks. | |
| 24 March 2008 | |
| Going through the same thing. Husband says damn the consequences, file and itemize. So, I am filing and itemizing. Guess we <or the spouse> will find out eventually. | |
TheTinCook (talk|edits) said: | 24 March 2008 |
| "Assuming we don't hear back from the husband before we need to file the return, should we take the standard deduction, or should we itemize?"
Your client's choice. If you have the last MFJ return, you could make an educated guess if he was itemizing. We've had a client in the office itemize just to stick it to the ex, and I've also had clients that work well together despite being in the middle of a divorce (Thank God for Form 8888!). If you don't have a clue, I would take the standard deduction and explain to the client that she'll have to pay back the 300 if the spouse itemizes. "If he itemizes & we take the standard deduction, would we expect to receive a notice from the IRS and be charged additional taxes?" Yes. "Would this be a situation where there could be penalties for the client or myself?" No preparer penalties for you. I don't think they can assess late payment penalties for that, but they will likely tack on some interest. | |
| 25 March 2008 | |
| Thankyou so much TinCook - all of your advice makes perfect sense, which can be quite a chore this time of year! | |
RoyDaleOne (talk|edits) said: | 25 March 2008 |
| Note, taking a standard deduction is not an option:
(6) CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS, ETC., NOT ELIGIBLE FOR STANDARD DEDUCTION In the case of--
(A) a married individual filing a separate return where either
spouse itemizes deductions,
If either spouse itemizes, the other spouse must itemize. | |
| 26 September 2008 | |
| So there seems to be conflicting answers. Here's my question, husband and wife seperate in June, 2007. He stays in house and pays mortgage, she moves in with boyfriend with both children. Can she file HOH and not itemize? Can he file MFS and itemize. I'm in California which is a community property state. Thanks for your help. | |
