(Smart Money) — In a 2011 decision, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that an unmarried taxpayer could not deduct home mortgage interest that she paid until she became an equitable co-owner of the property with her boyfriend and was legally obligated to make the mortgage payments. On her 2007 Form 1040, the taxpayer had attempted to deduct a full year’s worth of interest. However, her name was not added to the property deed and the mortgage document until the middle of 2007. Before then, she was not an equitable co-owner of the property under state law nor did she have any legal obligation to pay interest on the mortgage. Therefore, she was not entitled to any mortgage interest deductions.
