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wnytaxman · 05-23-2014, 07:48 PM

I'd love to see that deduction come back because it does help those who buy big ticket items like RV's. I'm hoping that the election year jitters will get Congress to give us back some of our goodies.

FlyingDiver · 05-23-2014, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

As the IRS becomes more adept at matching 1098's with Schedule A's the odds of that happening will decrease. Some get the notices and some do not, but why take the chance and have your return picked for more scrutiny?

No 1098 needed. You put the interest on Schedule A, line 11 (the one for no 1098). Just be sure to save a copy of the loan statement that shows total interest paid for that year. This is perfectly legal - an RV meets all the IRS requirements for a first (or second) home. And if it's a big loan, the interest deduction could add up to a lot.

wnytaxman · 05-24-2014, 09:10 AM

My point to tk was that if you put the interest on the mortgage interest line you will quite likely get a notice from the IRS. Most banks and finance companies will not send out a 1098 on RV interest as this "implies" that they are saying the deduction can be taken. One other point which won't have much of an effect on most of us is that the principal amount is limited to $1 million. If you have an RV loan for more than a million, you probably have more complex issues than just the RV interest.

FlyingDiver · 05-24-2014, 10:20 AM

I don't know about "quite likely". Did it for five years (so far) and no notice. Another poster in the thread said nine years with no notice. Now if you put it on the wrong line (where there should be a matching 1098), that's a different issue.

ImagineIF · 05-24-2014, 02:08 PM

I took boat and then RV 2nd home mortgage deductions for years. For 20102 I did get a letter from the IRS stating they didn't receive electronic 1098 information for my second home (RV) mortgage. Well no kidding, that's why I put it on the line for not having a 1098. Anyway, I sent them the requested information and they were happy.

wnytaxman · 05-24-2014, 05:14 PM

You will quite likely get a notice if you put RV interest on the home mortgage line. I did not say you can't take the interest, only that you need to put it on the correct line. I'm not sure where things got lost in translation but somewhere along the line I wasn't clear in my explanation.

FlyingDiver · 05-24-2014, 06:31 PM

I think what you're missing is that there's TWO lines for home interest. One for 1098s and one for non-1098s. It's lines 10 and 11 on the '13 Sched A. If you put the interest on the wrong line you can have a problem. They're BOTH for "home interest".

wnytaxman · 05-24-2014, 07:15 PM

I'm very much aware of the fact that there are two lines on the form as I do about 400 personal returns a year and my firm does about 1600 returns. My point is that if you put RV interest on the home mortgage interest line you will probably be getting a notice from the IRS. Actually an RV does qualify as a second home, however from the lenders standpoint it is for personal property which is where the confusion arises.

FlyingDiver · 05-24-2014, 07:24 PM

OK, you keep saying "if you put RV interest on the home mortgage interest line", then something "bad" might happen. Bad being relative, since it's easy enough to fix. So are you saying that an RV owner shouldn't put it on line 11? Where should they put it? Or are you just trying to say to put it where it belongs (line 11), but be prepared to show supporting documentation if they should ever ask? Which really doesn't seem to happen very often, IME. Anecdotal evidence here is that the there's a very small chance they will ask, which isn't "probable" to me.

Sorry I'm coming back to this, but your posts imply that putting the interest on line 11 is the wrong thing to do, but you don't say what the right thing to do is.

wnytaxman · 05-25-2014, 09:13 AM

Sorry I wasn't specific. The RV interest goes on line 11 and should be annotated with the name of the lender and RV interest. That will usually not pull a notice but you still should be able to prove the amount of the interest and to whom it was paid.

The IRS is doing a much better job of matching 1098's with Schedule A's that are filed and the mortgage interest that is claimed on line 10. If the amounts do not match then a computer generated letter is sent.