Is a $10,000 personal loan to pay for an online training course certificate deductible?

[hmcruzjr]

I am in New York and the online school is in California.
It was for an I.T. certification.

[xmasbaby0]

No you cannot deduct interest paid for a personal loan.

[DavidD66]

According to IRS Topic 513, Work Related Education Expenses 

You may be able to deduct the cost of work-related education expenses paid during the year if you're:

• A self-employed individual
• An Armed Forces reservist
• A qualified performing artist
• A fee-based state or local government official
• A disabled individual with impairment-related education expenses

To be deductible, your expenses must be for education that (1) maintains or improves skills needed in your present work or (2) your employer or the law requires to keep your present salary, status or job. However, even if the education meets either of these tests, the education can't be part of a program that will qualify you for a new trade or business or that you need to meet the minimal educational requirements of your present trade or business.

Education expenses incurred during temporary absence from your work may also be deductible, but the education must be to maintain or improve skills needed in your present work. After your temporary absence, you must return to the same general type of work. Usually, absence from work for one year or less is considered temporary.

Expenses that you can deduct include:

• Tuition, books, supplies, lab fees, and similar items
• Certain transportation and travel costs
• Other educational expenses, such as the cost of research and typing

To determine if your work-related expenses are deductible, see Are My Work-Related Education Expenses Deductible? 

[Opus 17]

Let's dissect this, because your question is not clear.

There are two ways of getting tax benefits for education, either as an education benefit or as a work-related expense.  If both methods are available to you, you can only use one of them.

Work related expense.

Work-related expenses for W-2 workers are never tax deductible.  Work-related expenses for self-employed/independent contracts are deductible against self-employment income but only for education needed to maintain or improve your skills in your current job or field of work.  Expenses needed to meet minimum training requirements are not deductible.  So if this certification is a minimum requirement, it is not allowable as a work-related expense even if you are self-employed, but if this enhances or improves your qualifications for a job you are already performing, it is deductible.  As a work-related expense, you can deduct tuition you actually pay for training in the year you pay it, as an expense on schedule C.  

Personal tuition expense.

Tax benefits for higher education are here.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970

If the course is provided by an institution of higher education that is qualified by the US Dept of Education, and if they provide you a 1098-T form for tuition you paid, you can claim the Lifetime Learning credit against the tuition you paid.   Also, if the course is offered by a qualified higher education provider, you can claim the student loan interest deduction for interest you pay on the loan.  The loan does not have to be a special student loan or offered by a student loan lender, but the loan must only be for tuition or other qualified higher education expenses.  If you mingle tuition expenses with other borrowing, then you can't deduct the interest.

If the school is not qualified by the US Dept of Ed and does not issue a 1098-T, you can't use the Lifetime Learning credit or the student loan interest deduction. 

[Opus 17]

---

@xmasbaby0 wrote:

No you cannot deduct interest paid for a personal loan.

---

A personal loan might qualify as a student loan for the student loan interest deduction, the loan does not have to be from a specific student loan lender.  However, the loan must meet the qualifications in publication 970.