Instead of margin interest expense(investment income expense) offsetting my income via itemized deduction, I wanted to see if its possible to offset dividends directly.
So let's say if
my dividend is 10k,
my capital gains are 25k and
my margin interest expense is 8k.
Can I directly reduce my dividends(or my capital gains by 8k) by 8k and hence only have to show 2k in dividend(or 17k of capital gains). I might not have enough in itemized deductions to reach the 24k threshold.