Realized I forgot to file my 1098 for mortgage interest after submitting taxes
I just submitted my taxes last night through TurboTax and woke up this morning to find my 1098 mortgage interest form in my email. Talk about bad timing! I'm pretty new to all this tax stuff and could really use some advice on what to do now. I vaguely remember during the TurboTax walkthrough they mentioned something about how I might be better off taking the standard deduction anyway rather than itemizing deductions. But honestly, I was just clicking through trying to get it done before the deadline and now I'm worried I messed up by not including this mortgage interest form. My mortgage interest was around $9,400 for the year. I'm married filing jointly and we made about $85k combined income. Do I need to file an amendment now or would the standard deduction have been higher anyway? Is this something I should be concerned about fixing ASAP?
18 comments
Join the conversation
Landon Flounder
Don't panic! This happens to a lot of people. Based on what you've shared, you're probably fine without amending your return. For 2025 filing (2024 tax year), the standard deduction for married filing jointly is $29,200. To benefit from itemizing, your total itemized deductions (including mortgage interest, state/local taxes up to $10,000, charitable donations, etc.) would need to exceed that amount. With $9,400 in mortgage interest alone, you'd need nearly $20,000 in other deductible expenses to make itemizing worthwhile. TurboTax likely ran the calculations behind the scenes and determined the standard deduction was better for your situation, which is why they might have guided you that way. If you want peace of mind, you can always create a new draft return in TurboTax without submitting it, add your 1098 information, and see if it changes your refund amount.
0 coins
Callum Savage
•But what if the mortgage interest pushes them over the standard deduction threshold? Wouldn't they be leaving money on the table? Also, don't they need to report the mortgage interest regardless of whether they itemize or not?
0 coins
Landon Flounder
•The only way the mortgage interest would push them over the threshold is if they have substantial other deductions. With $9,400 in mortgage interest, they would need almost $20,000 in other itemized deductions to exceed the $29,200 standard deduction for married filing jointly. The IRS doesn't require you to report mortgage interest if you take the standard deduction. The 1098 is information reported to the IRS by the lender, but you only need to include it on your tax return if you're itemizing deductions on Schedule A.
0 coins
Ally Tailer
After spending hours trying to figure out a similar situation with my mortgage interest and missing documents, I found this tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me tons of time. It actually analyzes your tax docs and tells you if you're better off with standard vs itemized deductions, and if you need to amend your return when you discover missing forms. In my case, I uploaded my tax return and the 1098 I received late, and it showed me I was actually better off with the standard deduction by about $3,200. It explained everything in plain English instead of tax jargon, which was super helpful since I'm not a tax expert either.
0 coins
Aliyah Debovski
•Does it work with all tax documents or just mortgage stuff? I always get my investment forms late and never know if I should amend.
0 coins
Miranda Singer
•I'm skeptical about these tax tools. How does it handle state taxes? I live in California and the state deduction rules are different from federal.
0 coins
Ally Tailer
•It works with pretty much all tax documents - W-2s, 1099s, investment forms, everything. It'll compare what you already filed against what you should have filed with the new documents and tell you if an amendment is worth it based on the difference in refund amount. It handles both federal and state taxes, including California's specific rules. It actually breaks down the federal vs state impact separately, so you can see if you need to amend one or both returns. The analysis shows you exactly how much money you'd get back by amending, so you can decide if it's worth the hassle.
0 coins
Miranda Singer
Alright, I have to admit I was wrong about being skeptical of taxr.ai. After our discussion, I decided to try it with my situation (had a missing 1099-INT that came late) and wow - it saved me from filing an unnecessary amendment! The analysis showed my additional interest income would have only changed my refund by $37, and it calculated that with tax prep fees, it wasn't worth amending. The breakdown was super clear showing exactly how my tax calculations changed. I'm definitely using this next year BEFORE I file to make sure I have everything together.
0 coins
Cass Green
If you do need to amend (though sounds like you probably don't), and you end up needing to talk to the IRS about it, good luck getting through to them! I spent literally 3.5 hours on hold last week trying to ask a question about my amended return. Finally discovered this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 20 minutes. They have a demo video here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Seriously was a lifesaver because the IRS told me my amendment would've been rejected if I filed it as-is. Apparently there's some specific form you need when adding mortgage interest after the fact.
0 coins
Finley Garrett
•Wait, how does this actually work? The IRS phone system is notorious. How can a third party service get you through faster?
0 coins
Madison Tipne
•This sounds like a scam. There's no way to skip the IRS phone queue. They probably just keep calling for you, which you could do yourself for free.
0 coins
Cass Green
•It's not about skipping the queue exactly. The service basically uses an automated system to continuously call the IRS using their phone routing algorithms and secures your place in line. When they get through, they immediately call you and connect you to the IRS agent. So yes, they're doing the waiting for you. It's definitely not a scam. I was connected to a legitimate IRS agent who answered all my questions and had access to my full tax history. They even noted in my file that I had called about the amendment issue so there would be a record if I needed to reference the conversation later.
0 coins
Madison Tipne
I feel like an idiot now. After commenting that Claimyr seemed like a scam, I was still stuck trying to reach the IRS about a similar mortgage interest form issue. After two more failed attempts (3+ hours on hold each time), I finally tried the service out of desperation. Got connected to an IRS agent in 17 minutes! The agent confirmed I needed to file Form 1040-X for my amendment and explained exactly how to report the mortgage interest correctly. She even gave me tips about how to expedite the processing of my amendment. Saved me from making a mistake that would have delayed my refund by months. Consider me converted.
0 coins
Holly Lascelles
Has anyone else noticed that TurboTax sometimes doesn't prompt you for all possible forms? Last year I had to go hunting through their menu to find where to enter my HSA contributions because it never directly asked me about it during the interview process.
0 coins
Malia Ponder
•YES! This happened to me with student loan interest. The guided walkthrough completely skipped it even though I indicated I was paying off student loans. Had to manually search for the form. I think they do this to push people toward the paid versions.
0 coins
Holly Lascelles
•That's frustrating about the student loan interest forms. I actually think it's less about pushing paid versions and more about their attempt to simplify the experience for the average user. They try to customize the interview process based on your initial answers, but that means sometimes they make assumptions about what forms you need. For important deductions like mortgage interest, student loans, and HSA contributions, I've started just manually checking that section regardless of whether they prompt me. Better safe than sorry!
0 coins
Kyle Wallace
Quick tip: If you're unsure whether to amend, calculate your itemized deductions first. Add up: - Mortgage interest ($9,400 in your case) - Property taxes - State/local income taxes (max $10k combined with property taxes) - Charitable donations - Medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of AGI If that total beats $29,200, then amend. Otherwise, standard deduction was correct!
0 coins
Jacinda Yu
•Thanks so much for breaking it down like this! I went ahead and totaled everything up based on your list. Between the mortgage interest ($9,400), property taxes ($4,800), state income taxes ($5,200), and charitable donations ($2,300), I'm at about $21,700 total. Since that's well below the $29,200 standard deduction, it looks like TurboTax made the right call automatically. What a relief! Definitely saving this checklist for next year though.
0 coins