My brother and I co-own our house but the loan is in his name only. How can I deduct my half of the interest I paid? I know there's a way to do it, but not sure how.
Thanks in advance
2007-02-04 08:17:23 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
You can not claim it, you must be legally liable for the debt, so if your name is not on the mortgage loan, you are not eligible to claim the itemized deduction.
Publication 936
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p936/ar02.html#d0e188
2007-02-04 08:28:07 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
You can't, unfortunately. Since you are not on the loan, you are not legally obligated for the payments and therefore are not entitled to any deduction for the loan interest.
To be technically legal, your brother can only deduct the interest that he actually paid. Assuming that you split everything evenly, that would be one-half of the total. As a practical matter though, his name and SSN will be on the Form 1098 so the IRS won't likely question that if he claims the entire interest as paid by him.
2007-02-04 08:25:24 · answer #2 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I would get a letter from your brother stating the you paid half the loan payment and then deduct the interest. Make sure he is only deducting his half of the interest as well. The other way to do it is to have your brother take the deduction and have him give you a check for half the tax savings.
2007-02-04 08:29:47 · answer #3 · answered by nickfromct 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you can't... you have to be legally liable for the mortgage.
2007-02-04 09:48:21 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋