How to Get Money Back on My Student Loans While Filing My Taxes
- 1). Check that you qualify for the deduction. You must have paid interest on the loans in the tax year for which you're filing your taxes and must be legally obligated to pay interest on the loans. You must have a modified adjusted gross income that does not exceed the amount set by the IRS for that tax year. You cannot be claimed as a dependent on your parents' or guardians' return.
- 2). Collect your necessary tax documents. To deduct student loan interest from your taxes, you will need a Form 1098-E for each student loan company you pay money to. These may be sent to your parents' address if you lived with them or had an on-campus address when you took out the loans, so you may need to ask your parents to forward them to you.
- 3). Tally up how much interest you paid on your student loans. Include in this total any origination fees for loans (as long as the fees were for use of the money and not for processing or other service on the loan), capitalized interest on the loans and interest on any revolving lines of credit that were used solely for educational purposes. Gather documentation for all of these payments.
- 4). Use the Internal Revenue Service's Student Loan Interest Deduction Worksheet to figure out how much of that total you can deduct from your taxes. You will need to enter the total amount from the previous step, but if that amount is $2,500 enter only $2,500.
- 5). Enter the resulting amount in your tax form. If using Form 1040 to file your return, the correct place for inputting this amount is line 33. On 1040A, it's line 18. Complete your tax form as instructed and submit it to the IRS for review and approval.
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