<prompt> Human: My boyfriend and I are shopping around to buy a house within the next year. How do tax benefits work we we purchase a house together if were not married? We both have very few deductions other than healthcare costs and I have an HSA. His income is 125k and my income is 88k. Would we need to split the interesttax deduction or should one person take it?  <response>: If you cannot file jointly, which you cant if you are not married, then the person with the highest marginal tax rate should pay and claim all deductible expenses including interest and property taxes. This is the best way to maximize your deduction.If you split it, then its possible neither person would be able to itemize, so your best change it to put as many expenses as possible onto one tax return. They can then apply the tax refund to a shared expense. 