Welcome back! Ask questions, get answers, and join our large community of tax professionals.
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

State and Local Tax Limitation for Married Filing Separate

jmacpa
Level 2

Is it possible for one taxpayer to claim part of the other spouses state and local income taxes paid or withheld in order to reach the $5,000 max on a married filing separate return, specifically where the spouses file separately due to the State's marriage tax penalty? I haven't seen anything to specifically preclude this, but would like some input on whether this is a valid tax planning strategy.

0 Cheers

This discussion has been locked. New comments cannot be posted on this discussion anymore. Start a new discussion

2 Comments 2
itonewbie
Level 15

Unless the couple is domiciled in a community property state, the withholdings are separate properties, so you can't arbitrarily allocate them between the two spouses.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Still an AllStar
jmacpa
Level 2
Thank you for the quick response. Ohio is a marital property state which considers property and assets acquired in marriage as belonging to both. Marital property is considered Community Property. It seems to be a slight difference in wording but not substantially in meaning and intent. Is there something that I am missing?
0 Cheers