purchased coop during the year, in 1098 box 2 should I enter my share of the coop's mortgage debt as of my purchase date?

[tarepanda]

I purchased a coop in April 2019, received 1098 from my coop which told me the corporation's outstanding mortgage principal on a per share basis as of Jan 01, 2019.  My question is what should I enter in box 2 on TT:
- my share of the coop's outstanding mortgage as of Jan 01 2019
or
- my share of the coop's outstanding mortgage as of April 2019 when I bought the place? 

if the latter, I don't actually know the outstanding balance for the coop's mortgage as of April. What should I put in box 2 in that case? 

Thanks in advance.

[DianeC958]

Box 2 should be the amount of outstanding mortgage debt you owe as of December 2019.

This amount should show on the 1098 form your received.

This amount is needed to make sure that you are limited on the amount of interest you can deduct on your tax return.

Since your loan started in 2019, you are limited on the amount of interest you can take on a loan, if the loan exceeds $750,000.

Deducting Mortgage Interest FAQs

@tarepanda

[tarepanda]

On the help page in TT it says:

"If you took out the loan in 2019, please input your original loan balance.  If your loan was funded before 2019, please input your balance as of January 1, 2019."

Why should it be as of December 2019? 

Based on that instruction, it sounds like for my case I should input my original loan balance, but it's a loan for the coop building and I don't know my share of the loan as of April when I bought the place. I'm really confused now. 

[DaveF1006]

Isn't there a person that manages the loan for the COOP?  if so, you can get the information about the loan from them to determine what the amount of the loan is, how many members share the mortgage, then divide total of loan divided by the members = your share of the loan.

The reason Turbo Tax asks you for beginning and ending mortgage balances is that if your beginning mortgage and ending mortgage balance is more than $750,00, your mortgage interest deduction may be needed and a special calculation may need to take place. This is why it asks for your balance as of 12/31/2019. 

[tarepanda]

so to clarify, in box 2 should I put in the balance as of Jan 2019, or April 2019, or Dec 2019? 

[DaveF1006]

 This is the outstanding mortgage as of 12/31/2019.