My husband cosigned on a truck for our son several years ago and they both received 1099C's this year, do they both have to claim this as income?

Only one of the two persons reports ; usually the primary. Two people don't pay taxes on the same income. But if the primary doesn't pay the taxes on it, they can come after your spouse. However, if you claim your son as a dependant, because he has no income, you may be required to claim it.

thats what I thought but somebody else told me they were both liable and that just didn't make sense. Honestly I think our son should be responsible, my husband cosigned for him on good faith and even though he didn't let the truck go back purposely I think it should still be his responsibility to claim it, we do not claim him on our taxes. Thank you for your help

agreed; What happens is that lenders report canceled debts in excess of $600 to the IRS with a 1099-C form. The canceled debt is generally considered to be income for the borrower, so the borrower should be including the info from the 1099-C on his tax return. some lenders have been sending 1099-C forms to co-signers of forgiven loans, which means that the co-signers’ tax returns could now be negatively affected. However, it turns out that co-signors should not be receiving these forms in the first place as a guarantor is not a debtor