Who gets to claim depreciation with multiple owners?

[Michael Cote]

My uncle and I both own a home and are on the deed. The mortgage is under my name alone however. The question is, who gets to claim the depreciation deduction on taxes? Would it be me because I’m the sole mortgage holder, or can you split it 50/50 with the other people on the deed? Because he makes a much higher income, it would seem to be smarter to let him claim the deduction and just split between the savings he would make. Is this illegal?

[Chris Seveney]

@Michael Cote

As mentioned talk to your cpa but depreciation has nothing to do with mortgage holder

Let’s say a property costs $100k and it was owned 50/50. One owner took a $50k mortgage and the other put $50k cash

Depreciation would be based on the ownership split and I would recommend following it because let’s say you took 75% depreciation and the other partner took 25% then when you sold it you split profit 50/50. Whoever took more depreciation has a lower basis so they are going to be paying a lot more in taxes