1098 mortgage Interest & Taxes - is there a rule about who can deduct? Where exactly are house taxes shown?
Hey tax folks, I'm really confused about my 1098 form for this year. My wife and I bought our first home last August and we've been paying the mortgage together, but my name is the only one on the 1098 form from the bank. We're filing jointly, but I've heard different things about who can actually claim the mortgage interest deduction when only one spouse is on the 1098. Can either of us deduct it on our joint return even though the form only has my name? Also, I'm looking at the 1098 and I can't figure out where exactly the property taxes are listed. There's a bunch of different boxes and numbers. Is there a specific box that shows just the property taxes we paid through escrow? We paid about $5,400 in property taxes according to our county website, but I want to make sure I'm entering the right number on our tax return. Thanks for any help!
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Elijah Knight
Good news! For married filing jointly, it doesn't matter which spouse's name is on the 1098 - you can still deduct the mortgage interest on your joint return. The IRS considers both spouses as one taxpayer when filing jointly, so as long as you're both legally responsible for the mortgage (which it sounds like you are), you're good to go. For your property tax question, look at Box 10 on your 1098 form - this is where mortgage lenders report the property taxes they paid from escrow accounts. If Box 10 is empty or shows a different amount than what you paid according to your county ($5,400), there might be a timing issue. The lender only reports taxes they actually paid during the calendar year, which might not match exactly with what was assessed.
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Brooklyn Foley
•Thanks for explaining! What if Box 10 shows $4,800 but the county website shows $5,400? Can I deduct the full $5,400 or just what's on the 1098? Also, does the same joint-filing rule apply to property taxes or just the mortgage interest?
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Elijah Knight
•If your 1098 shows $4,800 in Box 10 but your county shows $5,400, the difference could be due to timing - maybe your lender didn't pay the last installment until January of the next year. You can only deduct property taxes in the year they were actually paid, so you'd generally use the amount from Box 10 ($4,800). Yes, the same joint-filing rule applies to property taxes. When you file jointly, it doesn't matter which spouse technically paid the expense or whose name is on the documentation - both of you can claim the deduction on your joint return.
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Jay Lincoln
I was in the exact same situation last year with my 1098 form and was totally lost! After spending hours researching and getting nowhere, I tried this tax AI service at https://taxr.ai and it saved me so much time. I uploaded my 1098 form and instantly got a clear explanation of where everything was located and what I could deduct. It even showed me that I could deduct some mortgage insurance premiums that I didn't realize were eligible!
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Jessica Suarez
•Does it work with other tax forms too? I'm dealing with a 1099-MISC this year and I have no idea what I'm doing.
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Marcus Williams
•Sounds interesting but is it actually accurate? I've tried tax tools before that gave me wrong information and I ended up having to file an amendment.
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Jay Lincoln
•Yes, it works with pretty much all tax forms including 1099-MISC. You just upload your form and it explains exactly what each box means and where it goes on your return. Saved me from making mistakes with my freelance income last year. For accuracy, I double-checked everything with the official IRS publications and it was spot on. They actually reference IRS rules and publications in their explanations so you can verify the information. Way better than the random advice I was getting from friends.
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Jessica Suarez
Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here and it was super helpful! I uploaded both my 1098 and some 1099 forms and it gave me detailed breakdowns of everything. For the 1098 specifically, it highlighted exactly where the property taxes were shown and explained the discrepancy between what my lender paid vs what was assessed. Definitely less stressful than trying to figure it out on my own!
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Lily Young
When I had this same problem last year, I spent 3 days trying to get through to the IRS for clarification. After waiting on hold for hours and getting disconnected twice, I found this service called Claimyr at https://claimyr.com that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 45 minutes. They have this clever system that holds your place in line and calls you back when an agent is available. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed that for joint filers, either spouse can claim the mortgage interest deduction regardless of whose name is on the form, and explained exactly where to find property tax information on my 1098.
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Kennedy Morrison
•Wait, this actually works? How much does it cost? The IRS phone system is a nightmare - I gave up after 2 hours on hold last week.
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Wesley Hallow
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Lily Young
•It absolutely works! The service doesn't create more IRS agents - it just automates the hold process so you don't have to sit there with a phone to your ear for hours. Their system navigates the IRS phone tree and waits in the queue for you, then calls you when they reach a human. As for what they told me - the agent confirmed that joint filers can claim mortgage interest regardless of which spouse is named on the 1098, and explained that Box 10 shows property taxes paid by the lender. If there's a discrepancy with what you paid, it's usually because some payments fell in different tax years.
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Wesley Hallow
I need to apologize and eat my words about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself since I needed answers about my own 1098 situation. The service actually worked exactly as described! I got a call back in about 35 minutes and talked to an extremely helpful IRS agent who confirmed everything about joint filers being able to claim mortgage interest deductions even when only one spouse is named on the 1098. What surprised me most was how much more helpful the agent was when I actually got through compared to my previous attempts. I guess they're nicer when they haven't been listening to hold music for 2 hours themselves.
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Justin Chang
Don't forget that you can only deduct mortgage interest if you itemize deductions (Schedule A). With the higher standard deduction since 2018, a lot of people don't benefit from itemizing anymore. For 2024 filing, the standard deduction for married filing jointly is $27,700. So unless your mortgage interest, property taxes, and other itemized deductions add up to more than $27,700, you're better off taking the standard deduction.
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Sophia Carson
•That's a really important point I didn't consider! Our mortgage interest is about $12,000 and property taxes around $5,400, plus we had some medical expenses and charitable donations. Do medical expenses still need to exceed a certain percentage of income to be deductible?
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Justin Chang
•Medical expenses are only deductible for the amount that exceeds 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). So if your AGI is $100,000, you can only deduct medical expenses that exceed $7,500. Add up your mortgage interest ($12,000), property taxes ($5,400), charitable donations, and qualifying medical expenses. If the total is less than $27,700, then take the standard deduction. Many new homeowners are surprised to find they still don't benefit from itemizing despite having a mortgage.
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Grace Thomas
Just a heads up that if you refinanced last year, you might have TWO 1098 forms - one from each lender. Don't forget to add both when calculating your total mortgage interest! I almost missed this and would have underreported by $3,200.
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Hunter Brighton
•This happened to me! I almost missed the second 1098 from my original lender. The extra $1,800 in interest pushed me over the threshold where itemizing made sense instead of the standard deduction.
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Jibriel Kohn
Another thing to watch out for - if you paid any points when you got your mortgage, those should show up in Box 6 of your 1098. Points paid on a purchase mortgage are generally fully deductible in the year you bought the house, which could add a nice chunk to your itemized deductions. Since you bought in August, you might have paid origination points that you can deduct this year. Just make sure you didn't already deduct them if they were rolled into your mortgage amount rather than paid separately at closing.
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