Deductions & credits

I created a return to emulate your issue. Income in the phaseout range. No deduction. I went to the IRS website and looked at the calculation for the car loan interest on Sch 1-A. The numbers flow through lines 22-29. The last line shows to subtract the disqualified amount from the amount paid. In my case, and I bet in yours, the disqualified amount is larger than the amount paid so there is no deduction allowed. Next year, you will have paid more interest and be above the disqualified amount.

Give me a minute to upload the worksheet. You can compare it to your Sch 1-A to see the flow.