Can I deduct Mortgage Origination Fee from 2022 on my 2023 tax return for primary residence?

The origination fee you paid when purchasing your home is considered "points" for tax purposes, and yes, you can potentially deduct them - but the timing depends on meeting certain requirements. Since this is your primary residence and points are commonly charged in your area (most are), you have two options. Ideally, points on a home purchase loan should be deducted in the year you paid them (2022). However, if you didn't itemize that year because the standard deduction was higher, you can't go back and deduct them now for 2022 if you've already filed using the standard deduction. Unfortunately, you cannot shift this deduction to your 2023 return. When points don't meet the criteria for immediate deduction (or when they're on a refinance), they must be amortized over the life of the loan. But in your case, since they were eligible for immediate deduction in 2022, you don't get to choose to move them to 2023.

After struggling with almost this exact situation last year, I found an amazing tool that saved me thousands on my taxes. I used https://taxr.ai to analyze my mortgage documents and it found several deductions my previous accountant missed, including how to properly handle points paid in a previous year. Their system uses AI to review all your documents and find every possible deduction. It showed me exactly what I could and couldn't claim from my closing costs, and even helped me understand which home office expenses were legitimate deductions. Super easy to use - just upload your documents and their system identifies all potential tax breaks.

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai that the previous commenter recommended. I was in a similar situation with points paid when I bought my house. The service analyzed my closing documents and showed me that part of what my lender called an "origination fee" was actually for specific services that could be deducted differently than points! It identified about $800 of deductions I would have missed and explained exactly how to report them on my Schedule A. Super helpful to have all the tax code references explaining why certain items were deductible. Definitely worth it for homeowners - the documentation they provide would be really helpful if you ever got audited too.

If you're still struggling to get answers about your mortgage deductions, I'd recommend trying to speak directly with an IRS representative. I spent weeks trying to get through the normal IRS phone lines with no luck, but then I found this service called https://claimyr.com that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. They have this really cool system that monitors the IRS phone lines and calls you back when an agent is available. I was able to ask exactly how to handle my mortgage points situation and got an official answer directly from the IRS. Saved me hours of frustration and guesswork! You can see a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c

I owe everyone an apology and wanted to follow up. After being skeptical about Claimyr, I decided to try it this morning after getting nowhere with the IRS for two weeks. I got a call back in about 25 minutes and was connected to an actual IRS agent who answered my mortgage deduction questions in detail. The agent confirmed that points paid for a home purchase generally need to be deducted in the year paid, but also explained that certain fees categorized as "origination fees" might actually be for specific services that have different tax treatment. She walked me through how to determine which portions might still be deductible. Completely worth it to get an official answer directly from the IRS instead of guessing.

One thing nobody mentioned - if you refinanced rather than purchased, the rules are completely different. When you refinance, you have to spread the points over the life of the loan. So for a 30-year mortgage, you'd deduct 1/30th of the points each year. But since you said this was your first home mortgage, sounds like this was a purchase not a refi, so that rule wouldn't apply to you. Just wanted to mention it in case it helps someone else reading this thread!

Just to confirm what others have said - if you took the standard deduction in 2022, you can't go back and cherry-pick just the mortgage points to itemize for that year. It's all or nothing with itemizing vs. standard deduction. I made this mistake too when I bought my house in 2021. The standard deduction was better for that year, but I hated "losing" the points deduction. My tax guy told me that's just how it works - sometimes the timing doesn't work out in your favor. At least you'll save more in 2023 by itemizing!