HOW DOES A UNMARRIED COUPLE HANDLE A JOINT ACCOUNT FOR TAX PURP0SES

Q:  I want to open a joint savings account with another person. How do we do this and what is the potential issue with splitting the interest for income tax purposes?

A:  Well, no problem opening the account. The issue is that the bank will want a W-9 which has one of your Social Security numbers. That is the person that will get the 1099 showing the full amount of the interest. If the income is material and you want to split it on the two tax returns, we can do what is called a "Nominee 1099." With this whoever gets the original 1099 reports all the income and then we subtract half of the income and include that half on the other persons return. The nominee 1099 is then filed with both returns and with the IRS.