Q&A: Can personal loan interest be tax deductible if you use the loan to buy property?

Question by gabyrig: Can personal loan interest be tax deductible if you use the loan to buy property?
If you get a conventional mortgage, your interest is tax deductible. If I take out a personal loan to buy my primary residence, can I deduct interest from that personal loan when I file my taxes?

Thanks.

Best answer:

Answer by bostonianinmo
No, you cannot deduct it, at least not for a personal residence. To be deductible the property must secure the payment of the loan. A personal loan fails that test as there is no security other than your signature on a personal loan.

Now, if you’re buying the property for investment purposes the rules change. You are allowed to deduct interest on a loan for an investment, limited to the profit that you make on the investment. If it’s a buy and hold purchase, you may deduct the interest paid when you sell the property fora profit, limited to the profit that you made. This is one of those cases in the Tax Code where an expense is carried to future years as opposed to being used in the year that the expense was incurred.

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