Can the borrower and the cosigner each deduct the respective portion of student loan interest they paid?

[Anonymous]

My dad is a cosigner on my student loan. Last year I was making the payments for part of the year, then he took over the payments for the rest. Can we each deduct the interest we paid on the loan that year, after working out the interest paid for each payment? The total interest paid that year was over $600, but if we broke it up per person, each one will be deducting less than $600.

[Khai · Accepted solution]

Yes. Your father who cosigned student loans may claim the student loan interest deduction on his portion that was paid. To claim the student loan interest deduction, the borrower must be legally obligated to make the payments on the student loans and the Student must be a dependent of the Cosigner. Cosigning the loans counts as legally obligated to make the payments.

You can also deduct the portion you paid.

Please see FAQ (below) for reference. https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3302319