Student Loan Consolidation - Capitalized Interest

Mar 12, 2007 2 Replies

My wife had 8 years worth of student loans spread across SallieMae and ACS. She hadn't paid a dime of payments to any of them yet -- they were all in In-School or Economic Deferment. Before July 2006, we consolidated all of them. That put the loan in repayment, and we paid interest only for 4 months of



2006, at $200 each, equals $800. Got a 1098 for $800. No problem here. But then I get a 1098-E for the amount of nearly $1,800. No idea where this came from. Certainly didn't come out of our pockets. The only thing I can think is that she had accrued $1,800 of interest with ACS. We then paid off the principle and that $1,800 interest with the SallieMae consolidated loan. So ACS considers that we paid $1,800 in interest for 2006. But we didn't really pay it. It just got capitalized into the new SallieMae loan. So can we take the $1,800 as a deduction for 2006?

Thanks,



Chris



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Up to $2,500 of student loan interest is deductible if your income is within the limits specified on page 29 of IRS Publication 970.

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Capitalized interest is addressed on page 27.

Frederick Lorca

If your wife had accrued but unpaid interest on one of her original student loans that had been capitalized, and she subsequently satisfies that original loan by using a consolidation loan while some of the capitalized interest is still outstanding, she has paid that capitalized interest with the money she borrowed under the consolidation loan, and may deduct it if she otherwise qualifies for the year in which the consolidation loan proceeds were disbursed. The interest paid off with the consolidation loan is interest on a "qualified education loan" deductible under Sec. 221 of the Internal Revenue Code, and there does not appear to be any provision that denies the deduction in the case of a refinancing of an original qualified education loan by means of another loan.

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