Who must file Form 1098-E
File Form 1098-E if you are a financial institution, a governmental unit or its agency, an educational institution, or any other person who, in the course of a trade or business, receives student loan interest of $600 or more from an individual during the year. A loan servicer or collection agent that receives payments on the lender's behalf files instead of the lender. The $600 test is applied per borrower across all of that borrower's qualified student loans with you; you may file separately for each loan.
A qualified student loan is one the borrower certifies was used solely to pay qualified higher education expenses; Form W-9S carries that certification along with the name and TIN. Loans under a qualified employer plan and certain mixed-use loans are not qualified.
Threshold: $600, of interest received from a borrower during the year on qualified student loans, aggregated across all of that borrower's loans with you.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Student loan interest received by lender | Interest received during the year, including capitalized interest and, for loans made after September 1, 2004, loan origination fees and capitalized interest that are interest. |
| 2 | Checkbox: box 1 does not include loan origination fee and/or capitalized interest | For loans made before September 1, 2004. |
Box titles follow the current revision of the form. The IRS reads the payer and recipient name, TIN, address, account number and the money boxes; the state boxes are for the state copy only.
Payments that are not reported on Form 1098-E
- Interest under $600 from a borrower for the year, and interest on loans that are not qualified student loans.
- Interest received by someone not in a trade or business.
- Interest received from a borrower who is not an individual.
Due dates and extensions
| Copy | Due | For 2026 returns |
|---|---|---|
| To the IRS, paper | February 28 | Monday, March 1, 2027 (February 28 is a Sunday) |
| To the IRS, electronic | March 31 | Wednesday, March 31, 2027 |
| To the recipient | January 31 | Monday, February 1, 2027 (January 31 is a Sunday) |
An automatic 30-day extension is available on Form 8809, filed by the due date on paper or through IRIS; a second 30 days requires a hardship showing. Recipient statements can be extended 30 days on Form 15397, online or by fax only. 10 or more information returns of any type in aggregate must be e-filed (T.D. 9972); IRIS is the only IRS intake system from filing season 2027, FIRE having been retired. A payer who e-files the originals must e-file the corrections.
For 2026 forms filed in 2027: January 31 falls on a Sunday, so that deadline moves to Monday, February 1, 2027; February 28 also falls on a Sunday, so the paper deadline moves to Monday, March 1, 2027. March 31 (electronic) and March 15 are weekdays. February 28 does not become February 29 in a leap year. The compliance calendar has every date with the weekend shifts applied.
Withholding and TIN matching
Student loan interest received is not a payment to the borrower; backup withholding does not apply and Form 1098-E is outside the IRS TIN Matching program. Publication 1586 excludes telephone solicitation for 1098-E and 1098-T TINs, so the request is written or electronic, on Form W-9S (or a substitute) which may be collected through an electronic system that meets the rules in Pub 1099 part J. The borrower's TIN is the SSN captured at origination, often on a promissory note signed at eighteen.
Name and TIN errors on this form
Every information return is matched by the IRS on the first four characters of the payee's name (the name control) against the TIN. A mismatch produces a CP2100 line the following autumn and, unless the solicitation record is in order, a 972CG penalty the year after: $340 per return for 2026 forms filed in 2027 that are late or wrong, $690 for intentional disregard, with annual maximums of $4,191,500 ($1,397,000 for small filers) under Rev. Proc. 2025-32. The errors that recur on Form 1098-E:
- Co-signers. The borrower, not the co-signing parent, is the payer of record on the 1098-E; interest a parent pays on the child's loan is still reported to the child.
- Refinanced and consolidated loans. A new servicer inherits the name and TIN; a bulk verification at transfer catches name changes that happened during school.
- Married names. Borrowers who marry after graduation are the classic 1098-E mismatch.
The name control calculator shows what the IRS will derive from a name line, and the CP2100 guide covers what to do when the notice arrives.
Recipient statements and substitutes
The recipient statement for Form 1098-E need not be a copy of the official form: a substitute may be combined with other account statements or reports, provided every required item is numbered and titled as on the official form, the tax year, form number and form name appear together, the recipient instructions are included, and, for the forms Pub 1099 lists, a telephone number with direct access to someone who can answer questions is shown. Publication 1179 (Rev. Proc. 2026-18) has the specifications; logos, slogans and advertising are not permitted on the statement itself. Statements may be furnished electronically only to a recipient who has affirmatively consented in a way that shows they can access the format, after the disclosures in Pub 1099 part M, and must stay posted through October 15. Copy B may show a truncated TIN (xxx-xx-1234); the IRS copy never may.
Corrections and state copies
A wrong amount, code or checkbox is a Type 1 correction: one corrected return with the CORRECTED box checked. A wrong or missing payee TIN, a wrong payee name, or the wrong form type is a Type 2 correction: a zeroed-out copy of the original plus a new original, in that order. Publication 1099 also says you are not required to file a correction for a missing or incorrect TIN if you meet the reasonable-cause standard, only to use the right TIN on the next return, although the IRS encourages the correction. Details and the paper error charts are on the 1099 corrections page.
Form 1098-E is not in the Combined Federal/State Filing program, so any state that requires it must receive it directly. Requirements by state are on the state pages.
Questions people ask about Form 1098-E
Do we need a W-9S from every borrower?
You need the name, TIN and (for loans after certain dates) the certification that the loan is used only for qualified expenses; W-9S is the IRS form for it but a substitute or an electronic system that meets the requirements is fine.
A parent PLUS loan: who gets the 1098-E?
The parent is the borrower on a PLUS loan and receives the form under the parent's SSN.
Is 1098-E in the Combined Federal/State program?
No.
Other federal forms
1042-S · 1097-BTC · 1098 · 1098-C · 1098-F · 1098-Q · 1098-T · 1098-VLI · 1099-A · 1099-B · 1099-C · 1099-CAP · 1099-DIV · 1099-G · 1099-INT · 1099-K · 1099-LS · 1099-LTC · 1099-MISC · 1099-NEC · 1099-OID · 1099-PATR · 1099-Q · 1099-QA · 1099-R · 1099-S · 1099-SA · 1099-SB · 3921 · 3922 · 5498 · 5498-ESA · 5498-SA · W-2G · 1099-DA · Comparison table
Sources: IRS Publication 1099 (2026), General Instructions for Certain Information Returns, which replaced the separate General Instructions starting with tax year 2026; Instructions for Forms 1098-E and 1098-T (2026); Pub 1099 (2026); Publication 1586 Part V; IRC 6050S, 221; Regulations 1.6050S-3. Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.