It doesn't matter that the amount of the principal is the same or lower than my initial loan plus major improvements we put into our primary home, because that is part of your basis, not your loan. It comes into play when you sell the house, not when you do your taxes from year to year.
For tax purposes, you still go by the 1098 forms and you should combine them as follows:
What do I do if I have multiple 1098s from refinancing my home debt?
If your total home debt is under $375,000 ($250,000 for married filing separate) there is nothing new for you to do in 2020. Enter each 1098 as you normally would.
Home Debt Over $375,000
Under tax law, you are limited on the amount of home interest you can deduct. The limit is based on the loan amount and date of the origination of debt. We want to make sure we calculate this correctly for you.
If you refinanced last year, you’ll have a Form 1098 from your previous lender and one from the lender you refinanced with. You’ll need both forms.
Follow these steps to enter your mortgage information:
- Gather all of your 1098 forms related to your refinance (the form from your original lender and the form from your new lender)
- Grab a calculator and add together the box 1 amount from each form. Enter the total in TurboTax as Box 1 Mortgage interest.
- Add the Box 5 amount from each form and enter the total as Box 5 Mortgage insurance premiums. (If you weren’t required to pay mortgage interest, these boxes will be blank on your forms and you won’t enter anything.)
- Add the property tax paid from each form and enter it in the Property (real estate) taxes box.
Next, finish adding info for boxes 2, 3, 7, and 11 using Form 1098 for the original loan.
@muppet103
