A question from a reader, “Kim, how do my brother and I split the mortgage interest and property taxes on our home? We each own fifty percent of the house we bought, what should we do? Help!”
My answer is that you each can take one half of the mortgage interest that you are paying and half of the total property taxes and take them on your Schedule A, accordingly. If the mortgage interest and property taxes are being paid by one sibling (this is common and happens a lot), make sure that the other brother/sister/whoever has a photocopy of the 1099 bank mortgage interest paid statement and it shows the property taxes paid or you will need to give a copy of the tax statements to the person as well.
It isn’t unheard of brothers and sisters actually talking and even doing business together. They can buy property, they just have to keep clear records of what is going on and you don’t need to have a partnership agreement either.
Hope that helps and congratulations on buying the house. Did you take the new home buyer’s credit from last year? In any case, make sure that you keep it up in good shape and do preventative maintenance. Since you two are effectively the landlords as well tenants now, you want to minimize repairs. Sometimes they can get costly!
The Watchmen movie is coming out and already there are videogame downloads for the Xbox, Playstation and PC. They aren’t half bad from the demos I’ve seen and I am inclined to not only see the movie but to think seriously about trying make the time to get one of the games or at the very least make a note to check it out after tax season when I get some free time (ha ha).
No word as of now on the California refund checks. I did hear an interesting but of gossip that there may have been a systems burp at the IRS and if you filed between Feb 14 and the end of February your return may be delayed 1 week (figure realistically two). I’ve seen that with some returns. It is either that or there was something out of whack that was corrected and the money from the Fed for personal refunds is starting to flow again.
Lots of rain here in Southern California and it feels like April has hit early. People are getting hit with winter/spring colds, part two, so if you are anywhere with people sneezing or coughing, make sure you are eating properly and taking vitamins. Okay, so I am not a health expert but we all know that without good health, you might be prone to make some bad business decisions.
Speaking of decisions, I have an idea for the next book I am going to write. It is business related. Anybody interested in that or what is it that you want me to write about? Post your replies here – all serious suggestions welcome. In the meantime please stay healthy, get wealthy and be happy.
Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!
If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below. Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime. Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.
Kim Isaac Greenblatt
Business, Mortgage, Taxes and Watchmen