I have interest bearing student loans. Can I claim those on my tax forms if I am still in school and not payin

Answer 1

Current tax law allows you to write off the interest you PAY on student loans as an "above-the-line" adjustment (line 33 of your 1040 or line 18 of your 1040A). There is a phase-out range if your income is too high during the year you want to claim the interest. Read page 33 of the 1040 instruction booklet. When you PAY the interest, you should get a 1098E from the lender to show how much interest you paid. However, if the interest is below a certain amount, they may not send you the form. This does NOT mean you can't write it off...it just means you won't get the form. Since you are writing off the interest above-the-line, you need NOT do a Schedule A (long form / itemize) in order to claim it.

Answer 2

If you haven't started paying the loan back, you can not deduct the interest. You should look at the Hope Credit or the Lifetime Learning Credit for educationally related expense. The Hope Credit is for the first two years of undergraduate school. The lifetime Learning Credit is for anything after that. Which form you credit you use will dependent upon what school you attend, what year of school you are in, whether you are at least part-time or not, and what your tuition and fees are.

Answer 3

sorry, I misread your question....The info below is for after you're out of school:

the only way you can list student loans is by listing the interest you paid on them yearly when you "itemize" your taxes each year. If you don't earn money and own property/house then you won't be able to itemize so therefore you won't be able to claim them on your taxes.

Answer 4

You can only deduct the interest that you paid. But keep in mind that you can claim either the lifetime learning credit or the HOPE credit if you are currently in school.

Answer 5

sophieb's answer isn't correct - you don't have to itemize to take an adjustment for student loan interest.