Question

1098-E: who pays it?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 3, 2019
1 reply
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The loan is in my name, but my mom's been paying it for me. I've never claimed it before, but now that I'm not a dependent, my mom wants me to claim this. But I'm not paying it, even now. Can I claim it? It's attached to my name and SSN -so I should be able to- but I'm not paying it -so I shouldn't claim it, right?

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A

AnthonyC

Employee

No, you should not claim the interest paid if you did not actually pay any of the interest. One of the requirements of the student loan deduction is that you must have actually paid the interest on a qualified loan, which you have not according to your statement.

Likewise, unless your mother is an actual co-signor on the student loan, she would not be able to claim the interest either because she would not meet the second requirement that you must be legally obligated to repay the interest. Its not enough that she is making the payments if she is not legally obligated to make the payments.

You can claim the deduction if all of the following apply:

You paid interest on a qualified student loan in tax year 2016;
You're legally obligated to pay interest on a qualified student loan;
Your filing status isn't married filing separately;
Your MAGI is less than a specified amount which is set annually; and
You or your spouse, if filing jointly, can't be claimed as dependents on someone else's return.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc456.html