Deductions & credits

We can't tell based on your information.  With a typical home sale, the deed is transferred to the homeowner, and the mortgage lender retains a lien on the home -- the lender does not own the home, but they have a legal right to seize the home if the homeowner stops paying on the mortgage.   The deed and mortgage generally must be recorded at the county clerk's office.

 

Turbotax asks if you are a homeowner so that later, it will ask you about deducting mortgage interest payments and property taxes.  You can only deduct property taxes if you legally own the home and you actually pay the tax.  You can deduct mortgage interest if you are a legal or beneficial owner of the home, and you actually pay mortgage interest.

 

If you live in the home and you are promised to own it if you meet certain conditions, then you are at least a beneficial owner.  But to really answer the question, we have to know if you are also a legal owner, and if the payments you are talking about are mortgage payments and property taxes to a bank that holds a mortgage, or some other kind of payment to some other kind of entity.