If you haven't itemized before, be prepared for your new home to open a whole new world of tax deductions. Though you have to give up your standard deduction to claim any of the deductions resulting from your settlement statement, the sum of your points, mortgage interest, mortgage insurance premiums and real estate taxes will likely make it more than worth your while.
Points
Many lenders are so nice that they'll let you pay more at closing for a charge called "points" and in return they'll charge you a lower interest rate over the remainder of the loan. If you choose to accept the offer, the amount you pay gets reported on your settlement statement. If this is a purchase mortgage, you can either deduct the entire amount in the first year or you can spread it out evenly over the life of the loan for the purposes of calculating your tax deductions. If you're refinancing, you have to deduct the cost over the life of the loan.
Mortgage Interest
The settlement statement will include the amount of interest you paid for the first period that you owned the home. This amount should also be included in the Form 1098-T that your bank sends you at the end of the year to report all the interest you paid over the year. You're limited to deducting the interest on the first $1 million of mortgage, but for most people that isn't much of a restriction. (You can also take a deduction on a purple ostrich that lays golden eggs.)
Mortgage Insurance Premiums
Mortgage insurance premiums are paid to protect the lender in case housing values drop and you default. Talk about getting the short end of the stick: you pay for it, but get no protection. Even worse, some lenders require you to pay a specified amount at closing to cover several years of private mortgage insurance. If you have to prepay, you have to spread the amount over the shorter of the mortgage term or 84 months in order to figure your tax deduction. In addition, you can't take this deduction if your adjusted gross income exceeds $109,000, as of 2012.
Real Estate Taxes
Typically, the buyer and the seller agree to split the real estate taxes for the year based on the amount of time each person owns the home. For example, if a quarter of the way through the year the home is sold, the seller would usually be responsible for 25 percent of the real estate taxes and the buyer would be responsible fro 75 percent. You can write off whatever portion of the real estate taxes you pay.
References
Writer Bio
Mark Kennan is a writer based in the Kansas City area, specializing in personal finance and business topics. He has been writing since 2009 and has been published by "Quicken," "TurboTax," and "The Motley Fool."