5 responses to “In CA. Can I claim property taxes and interest payments on my home if I was only on title and not the loan?”

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  bostonianinmo November 23rd, 2010 at 22:17

  Dora

  Property taxes, yes. Loan interest, no.

  To claim the mortgage interest deduction you must both be legally obligated for the payments and actually make them. Since you are not legally obligated for the payments you cannot deduct the interest. And since your parents did not actually make the payments, they cannot deduct the interest either.

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  wartz November 26th, 2010 at 08:42

  Linda

  You can claim the deduction for the taxes if you are the person responsible for paying them. As the title holder you are. The lender may have an acceleration clause in the loan and could call it in but that is a different issue.

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  Robert S November 28th, 2010 at 05:53

  Peter

  If you own the home, and you do if your name is on the title, and you paid the taxes and interest, then you can deduct them. The wording on the loan really shouldn’t make any difference.

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  bud68 November 29th, 2010 at 16:59

  Dan

  Interest can only be claimed by the party responsible for the loan, regardless of who actually is making the payments.

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  efflandt November 30th, 2010 at 21:48

  Bernice

  Your parents may want to read their mortgage documents, because if they transferred the interest they had in the property used as collateral for their loan (to you), the mortgage may become immediately due and payble (by your parents) at any time.

  But as long as you make your payments, they may not rock the boat, because they have enough other problems to worry about at the moment from people not paying. But if you ever default or they figure the property is worth more to foreclose, look out! It would be to your advantage to refinance in your own name(s) as soon as possible, so you could take the interest deduction and avoid potential future problems.