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In 2013 I was married filing jointly. We had underpaid our state taxes by $24,000 so we wrote a check to the state for $24,000.

In 2014 we divorced, and are filing separately. The $24,000 can be used as a deduction on our 2014 taxes.

Can we BOTH deduct the full $24,000 in each of our returns?

Or do we need to split it ($12,000/$12,000 or $14,000/$10,000 for example)?

We live in California.

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  • There's almost certainly no way you'll both be able to deduct the full 24K. Why would you even expect to be able to? When did you divorce? That might play a role here.
    – Andy
    Mar 6, 2015 at 19:12
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    1. Because I'm not a tax expert, and 2. We divorced in 2014. I was doing the tax returns for both of us and the H&R Block software imported the full amount for each return, which I thought might be too good to be true, so I thought I'd ask the experts (at least one of whom seems to be unnecessarily condescending). Mar 6, 2015 at 19:41

1 Answer 1

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Of course you cannot both deduct it.

California is a community State and the $24K was a community debt. So I'd say you split it 50/50. Talk to your divorce attorney, it may be that you'll get a different opinion.

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