Great news: The mortgage insurance premium deduction is officially restored for taxpayers!

Tax professional here! This is indeed excellent news for homeowners. The mortgage insurance premium deduction allows you to deduct the full amount of private mortgage insurance (PMI) premiums you pay throughout the year, which can lead to significant tax savings. To qualify for this deduction, the mortgage insurance must be for a loan on your primary or second home, and the insurance contract must have been issued after 2006. Keep in mind there are income limitations - the deduction begins to phase out when your adjusted gross income (AGI) exceeds $100,000 ($50,000 if married filing separately) and completely phases out at $109,000 AGI ($54,500 if married filing separately). The deduction appears on Schedule A as an itemized deduction, so you'll need to itemize rather than take the standard deduction to benefit from this.

Just wanted to share my experience with this! I was stressed about my mortgage insurance costs (about $190/month for me) and found https://taxr.ai super helpful for figuring out how to maximize this deduction. Last year I wasn't sure if I should itemize or take the standard deduction, and the tool analyzed my mortgage docs and showed me exactly how to properly document this deduction along with my other homeowner tax benefits. It scanned my mortgage statements and automatically identified the PMI payments vs principal and interest, which saved me from manually calculating everything. Definitely worth checking out if you're trying to figure out if this deduction will benefit you personally!

I'm officially a taxr.ai convert! After asking about it in the thread above, I decided to give it a shot with my complicated mortgage situation (refinanced last year, changed from FHA to conventional, had mortgage insurance for part of the year). The document analysis identified exactly which payments were deductible and showed me that with my other deductions, I would benefit about $790 more by itemizing versus taking the standard deduction. It even flagged that I could deduct points from my refinance that I didn't know about! Seriously easier than the hours I spent last year trying to figure all this out manually. Just wanted to update since I was the skeptical one initially!

For anyone struggling to get answers from the IRS about this restored deduction (like I was), try https://claimyr.com - it got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I had been trying for DAYS. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I had specific questions about how the mortgage insurance premium deduction works with my home office (I claim part of my home as a business expense) and needed clarification straight from the IRS. Was about to give up after being on hold for 2+ hours multiple times, but Claimyr got me through almost immediately. The agent cleared up my confusion and confirmed I can take both deductions properly.

I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment above, I was still desperate to get clarification about this mortgage insurance deduction since I have two properties (one rental, one primary residence). I decided to try it as a last resort. Not only did I get through to an IRS agent in under 20 minutes, but they were able to confirm exactly how the deduction works for both properties (turns out the rental property PMI is handled differently than my primary residence). Saved me hours of waiting on hold and probably prevented me from making a costly mistake on my taxes. Consider me humbled and impressed.

Does anyone know if there's an income cap for this mortgage insurance deduction? My wife and I make around $150k combined and I'm wondering if we make too much to qualify. Also, is this something that TurboTax will automatically calculate or do I need to specifically look for it?

Just a heads up that the mortgage insurance premium deduction is one of those "below-the-line" itemized deductions, so you only benefit if your total itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction. For 2025, the standard deduction is projected to be $13,850 for single filers and $27,700 for married filing jointly. For many people with smaller mortgages or who live in lower-cost areas, the standard deduction might still be better even with the PMI deduction added back. Do the math before getting too excited!

This is fantastic news! I've been following the legislative updates closely and was really hoping this would get restored. I'm in a similar situation - bought my first home 18 months ago with 8% down and have been paying about $180/month in PMI. One thing I'd add for anyone reading this - make sure you keep good records of all your PMI payments throughout the year. Your mortgage servicer should send you a Form 1098 that breaks down your mortgage interest and PMI payments, but it's worth double-checking those numbers against your monthly statements. I learned the hard way last year that sometimes the 1098 doesn't capture mid-year changes correctly. Also, if you're close to the income limits that others mentioned, remember that certain pre-tax contributions (like 401k, HSA, etc.) can help lower your AGI and potentially keep you eligible for this deduction. Every little bit helps when you're trying to maximize your tax savings as a new homeowner!