determine what percentage of a property each spouse might hold, see Tip

#69.

A TAX PERSPECTIVE

In terms of tax, your objective with beneficial ownership is generally to

split the income amongst the family unit so as to pay the lowest amount of
tax. If the family unit means a husband, wife and young adult children, you
need to project your other incomes, the property income during its lifetime,
each of your prospective incomes when you sell the property, the expected
selling price of the property and the expected tax rates. These are estimates,
since no one can accurately predict the future. This projection will be based
on reasonable expectations, since no one can foresee income changes based
on lifestyle choices ranging from new babies to retirement dates and major
capital spending plans.

SOPHISTICATED INVESTOR ACTION STEP

Consider the facts

Since you generally should not change the decision about who
owns a property, you need to weigh several factors before the
purchase closes. These include:
1. Annual income of the spouses.
a. If the two spouses have similar incomes, a joint
ownership may be appropriate because both are
in similar brackets.
b. If one spouse is working or one spouse is in a
higher bracket, consider having the property in
one spouse’s name. If the property is profitable,
you may want to put it in the name of the
person with less income. If it’s in a loss
situation, it may be prudent to put it in the