I am separated and unfortunately we cannot agree on tax liability. We will be Married Filing Separately. At issue is the deduction on home mortgage related interest and real estate taxes. We are both owners of the property and liable on the mortgage. I pay the mortgage through automatic payments from my checking account. This account is not joint.
My question is: How much can each of us claim as itemized deductions?
Her accountant says that because we both own the property each is entitled to 50% of the deductions. I believe that because I make the payments I am entitled to claim all the interest and all the real estate taxes on my federal return.

Technically your Accountant is correct in that since you jointly owned the property you should be equally sharing the mortgage interest and property taxes between you and your separated spouse.

However, it is worth examining whether or not one of the spouse claiming 100% of the property taxes and interest would benefit more than if both equally shared the property tax and mortgage interest deduction. I would suggest that you provide your separated spouse with an analysis to see what generates the most tax savings and if the latter provides a greater tax benefit, then I would suggest that you encourage your spouse that you should claim 100% of the tax benefit but that you would share the tax benefit with her.

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