Publication 17
Your Federal Income Tax

For Individuals

For use in preparing 2002 Returns

Investment Interest

This section discusses the interest expenses you may be able to deduct as an investor.

If you borrow money to buy property you hold for investment, the interest you pay is investment interest. You can deduct investment interest subject to the limit discussed later. However, you cannot deduct interest you incurred to produce tax-exempt income. Nor can you deduct interest expenses on straddles.

Investment interest does not include any qualified home mortgage interest or any interest taken into account in computing income or loss from a passive activity.

Investment Property

Property held for investment includes property that produces interest, dividends, annuities, or royalties not derived in the ordinary course of a trade or business. It also includes property that produces gain or loss (not derived in the ordinary course of a trade or business) from the sale or trade of property producing these types of income or held for investment (other than an interest in a passive activity). Investment property also includes an interest in a trade or business activity in which you did not materially participate (other than a passive activity).

Partners, shareholders, and beneficiaries.   To determine your investment interest, combine your share of investment interest from a partnership, S corporation, estate, or trust with your other investment interest.

Allocation of Interest Expense

If you borrow money for business or personal purposes as well as for investment, you must allocate the debt among those purposes. Only the interest expense on the part of the debt used for investment purposes is treated as investment interest. The allocation is not affected by the use of property that secures the debt.

Limit on Deduction

Generally, your deduction for investment interest expense is limited to the amount of your net investment income.

You can carry over the amount of investment interest that you could not deduct because of this limit to the next tax year. The interest carried over is treated as investment interest paid or accrued in that next year.

You can carry over disallowed investment interest to the next tax year even if it is more than your taxable income in the year the interest was paid or accrued.

Net Investment Income

Determine the amount of your net investment income by subtracting your investment expenses (other than interest expense) from your investment income.

Investment income.   This generally includes your gross income from property held for investment (such as interest, dividends, annuities, and royalties). Investment income does not include Alaska Permanent Fund dividends.

Choosing to include net capital gain.   Investment income generally does not include net capital gain from disposing of investment property (including capital gain distributions from mutual funds). However, you can choose to include all or part of your net capital gain in investment income.

You make this choice by completing line 4e of Form 4952 according to its instructions.

If you choose to include any amount of your net capital gain in investment income, you must reduce your net capital gain that is eligible for the lower capital gains tax rates by the same amount.

Before making this choice, consider the overall effect on your tax liability. Compare your tax if you make this choice with your tax if you do not.

Investment income of child reported on parent's return.   Investment income includes the part of your child's interest and dividend income that you choose to report on your return. If the child does not have Alaska Permanent Fund dividends or capital gain distributions, this is the amount on line 6 of Form 8814, Parents' Election To Report Child's Interest and Dividends.

Child's Alaska Permanent Fund dividends.   If part of the amount you report is your child's Alaska Permanent Fund dividends, that part does not count as investment income. To figure the amount of your child's income that you can consider your investment income, start with the amount on line 6 of Form 8814. Multiply that amount by a percentage that is equal to the Alaska Permanent Fund dividends divided by the total amount of interest and dividend income on lines 1a and 2 of Form 8814. Subtract the result from the amount on line 6 of Form 8814.

Child's capital gain distributions.   If part of the amount you report is your child's capital gain distributions, that part (which is reported on line 13 of Schedule D or line 13 of Form 1040) generally does not count as investment income. However, you can choose to include all or part of it in investment income. See chapter 3 of Publication 550 to figure the amount to include.

Your investment income also includes the amount on line 6 of Form 8814 (or, if applicable, the amount figured under Child's Alaska Permanent Fund dividends, earlier.

Investment expenses.   Investment expenses include all income-producing expenses (other than interest expense) relating to investment property that are allowable deductions after applying the 2% limit that applies to miscellaneous itemized deductions. Use the smaller of:

1. The investment expenses included on line 22 of Schedule A (Form 1040), or
2. The amount on line 26 of Schedule A.

Losses from passive activities.   Income or expenses that you used in computing income or loss from a passive activity are not included in determining your investment income or investment expenses (including investment interest expense). See Publication 925, Passive Activity and At-Risk Rules, for information about passive activities.

Form 4952

Use Form 4952, Investment Interest Expense Deduction, to figure your deduction for investment interest.

Exception to use of Form 4952.   You do not have to complete Form 4952 or attach it to your return if you meet all of the following tests.

• Your investment interest expense is not more than your investment income from interest and ordinary dividends.
• You have no other deductible investment expenses.
• You have no disallowed investment interest expense from 2001.

If you meet all of these tests, you can deduct all of your investment interest.

More Information

For more information on investment interest, see Investment Expenses in chapter 3 of Publication 550.

Items You
Cannot Deduct

Some interest payments are not deductible. Certain expenses similar to interest also are not deductible. Nondeductible expenses include the following items.

• Personal interest (discussed later).
• Service charges (however, see Other Expenses in chapter 30).
• Annual fees for credit cards.
• Loan fees.
• Credit investigation fees.
• FHA mortgage insurance premiums and VA funding fees.
• Interest to purchase or carry tax-exempt securities.

Penalties.   You cannot deduct fines and penalties paid to a government for violations of law, regardless of their nature.

Personal Interest

Personal interest is not deductible. Personal interest is any interest that is not home mortgage interest, investment interest, business interest, or other deductible interest. It includes the following items.

• Interest on car loans (unless you use the car for business).
• Interest on federal, state, or local income tax.
• Finance charges on credit cards, retail installment contracts, and revolving charge accounts incurred for personal expenses.
• Late payment charges by a public utility.

You may be able to deduct interest you pay on a qualified student loan. For details, see Publication 970.

Allocation of Interest

If you use the proceeds of a loan for more than one purpose (for example, personal and business), you must allocate the interest on the loan to each use. However, you do not have to allocate home mortgage interest if it is fully deductible, regardless of how the funds are used.

You allocate interest (other than fully deductible home mortgage interest) on a loan in the same way as the loan itself is allocated. You do this by tracing disbursements of the debt proceeds to specific uses. For details on how to do this, see chapter 5 of Publication 535.

How To Report

You must file Form 1040 to deduct any home mortgage interest expense on your tax return. Where you deduct your interest expense generally depends on how you use the loan proceeds. See Table 25-1 for a summary of where to deduct your interest expense.

Table 25-1. Where To Deduct Your Interest

Home mortgage interest and points.   Deduct the home mortgage interest and points reported to you on Form 1098 on line 10 of Schedule A (Form 1040). If you paid more deductible interest to the financial institution than the amount shown on Form 1098, show the larger deductible amount on line 10. Attach a statement explaining the difference and print See attached next to line 10.

Deduct home mortgage interest that was not reported to you on Form 1098 on line 11 of Schedule A (Form 1040). If you paid home mortgage interest to the person from whom you bought your home, show that person's name, address, and taxpayer identification number (TIN) on the dotted lines next to line 11. The seller must give you this number and you must give the seller your TIN. A Form W-9 can be used for this purpose. Failure to meet any of these requirements may result in a $50 penalty for each failure. The TIN can be either a social security number, an individual taxpayer identification number (issued by the Internal Revenue Service), or an employer identification number. See Social Security Number in chapter 1 for more information about TINs.

If you can take a deduction for points that were not reported to you on Form 1098, deduct those points on line 12 of Schedule A (Form 1040).

More than one borrower.   If you and at least one other person (other than your spouse if you file a joint return) were liable for and paid interest on a mortgage that was for your home, and the other person received a Form 1098 showing the interest that was paid during the year, attach a statement to your return explaining this. Show how much of the interest each of you paid, and give the name and address of the person who received the form. Deduct your share of the interest on line 11 of Schedule A (Form 1040), and print See attached next to the line.

If you are the payer of record on a mortgage on which there are other borrowers entitled to a deduction for the interest shown on the Form 1098 you received, deduct only your share of the interest on line 10 of Schedule A (Form 1040). You should let each of the other borrowers know what his or her share is.

Mortgage proceeds used for business or investment.   If your home mortgage interest deduction is limited but all or part of the mortgage proceeds were used for business, investment, or other deductible activities, see Table 25-1. It shows where to deduct the part of your excess interest that is for those activities.

Investment interest.   Deduct investment interest, subject to certain limits discussed in Publication 550, on line 13 of Schedule A (Form 1040).

Amortization of bond premium.   There are various ways to treat the premium you pay to buy taxable bonds. See Bond Premium Amortization in Publication 550.

Income-producing rental or royalty interest.   Deduct interest on a loan for income-producing rental or royalty property that is not used in your business in Part I of Schedule E (Form 1040).

Example.   You rent out part of your home and borrow money to make repairs. You can deduct only the interest payment for the rented part in Part I of Schedule E (Form 1040). Deduct the rest of the interest payment on Schedule A (Form 1040) if it is deductible home mortgage interest.

- Continue -