Property Taxes for Joint Ownership

[Happycakes223]

In a situation where a property is split 3 ways , but only one of the people are living in the home, do the property taxes still get split among all 3? What about costs for upkeep of the property, and local taxes for trash and sewage on the property?

Thanks for any help you can provide with this.

[lawaholic]

I'm not sure what the law states in a situation like this, but I would think in terms of fairness, I think the property taxes should be split 3 ways if ownership is similarly divided. Since only one of the three are actually living in the home, that person should be responsible for expenses related to living in the home - namely utilities, which include trash and sewage. (The other two are not contributing to trash or sewage buildup and thus, in my opinion, should not be responsible for charges relating to pickup/removal/disposal.)

[llworking]

If we are going to based our answers on our personal opinion then I think that the person with the exclusive use of the home should be responsible for the property taxes and upkeep...unless upkeep involves something major.

[flyingron]

As far as the taxing authority is concerned, how you split it up is up to you as long as the money gets paid.
As far as the IRS cares, as long as you paid the tax and you had some responsibility to pay it, you can deduct it.
This is something that should be determined in advance by the co-owners. As pointed out, splitting it along the percentage of ownership is usually a good place to start.