The Tax Effects of Refinancing With Cash Out

You can tap into the equity you've built in your home with a cash-out refinance. With a cash-out refinance, you borrow more than you owe on your current mortgage and receive the excess in cash. However, though you're still using your home as collateral, that doesn't mean that you can automatically continue to claim all the interest you pay as part of the mortgage interest deduction.

Performing a cash-out refinance is just like taking out an additional loan in terms of generating income. When you receive cash out in a refinance, the IRS recognizes that you have to pay it back, and so you really haven't realized any income. Therefore, it doesn't count as taxable income. For example, if you refinance your mortgage for $200,000 when you owed $170,000, you would receive $30,000 cash. However, your loan increases to $200,000, so you still have the same net worth.

If you don't use the proceeds of your cash-out refinance to improve your home, you can't treat the interest on the cash-out portion of the the refinance as home mortgage interest. For example, if your refinance is for $200,000 but $30,000 of it was cashing out, usually you could only treat the interest on the first $170,000 as mortgage debt. However, if you used the $30,000 to add on a room to the back of your home, the entire amount counts as mortgage debt.

If you don't use the proceeds of the loan for improving your home, you may be out of luck. According to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, you cannot deduct the interest on a home equity loan unless it was used to buy, build or make substantial improvements to your home. If you use the loan for personal expenses, like a vacation, or to pay off student loans or credit card debt, then the interest on your home equity debt is not deductible.

When you refinance, your lender may offer you the option of paying points to receive a lower interest rate on the refinance. If you use the proceeds of the cash out to pay for home improvements, you can either deduct the points in the year you pay them or prorate them over the remainder of the mortgage. If you don't use the proceeds to improve your home, you have to prorate the points. For example, if you take out a 15-year refinance and pay $3,000 in points, you would deduct $200 per year.