closing costs

[ediehl50]

I am itemizing my taxes this year and I purchased a new home. Can I deduct my closing costs? My 1098 does not show points but I did have origination fees, recording fees, processing fees, prepaid taxes, interest listed on closing statement. Which items can I deduct and where do I list these on Turbo Tax?

[TomK2023]

For your primary or secondary home, the only deductible closing costs are home mortgage interest and certain real estate taxes. These deductible costs generally include:

• Real estate taxes paid at closing
• Mortgage interest paid when the cost was settled
• Interest paid at the house’s purchase
• Loan origination fees, known as “points”

You can add other settlement fees or closing costs to the basis of your property. This way you’ll get credit for those costs when you sell the home. These base adjustments include:

• Abstract fees
• Charges for installing utility services
• Legal fees
• Recording fees
• Surveys
• Transfer taxes
• Title insurance
• Any amounts the seller owes that you agree to pay, such as back taxes or interest, recording or mortgage fees, charges for improvements or repairs, and sales commissions

To deduct your mortgage closing costs in TurboTax, go to the Deductions & Credits section of your federal return and select Start next to Mortgage Interest and Refinancing (Form 1098).  Or you can try the instructions below.  If you have multiple 1098 forms due to refinancing, ensure they’re first entered correctly.

Enter your 1098 (Mortgage Interest Statement):

1. Open your return.
2. Enter  1098 in the Search box.
3. Click on jump to 1098z link.
4. Enter information from your Form 1098.

[Opus 17]

Your closing statement may show a property tax adjustment.  For example, suppose property taxes are paid in February for the Jan-Dec year, and you buy the house in July.  Because the seller paid a full year of taxes, you give the seller a credit at closing for the taxes that cover the days that you will own the home.  You can deduct those taxes as if you paid them directly to the city or county, even if they are not on your 1098.

Your closing statement may have daily interest.  For example, if you closed on July 28, you paid 3 days of interest (to the end of July).  Then your regular mortgage interest payments started with your September regular payment.  If that daily interest is not already included on your 1098 (you have to check this yourself), you can add that daily interest as "interest not on a 1098", with the name of the closing bank or agent.

If you paid points, they may be deductible as additional interest.  Points are a form of advanced interest you pay to get a lower interest rate overall.  To be deductible, points must be a percentage of the loan amount (not the selling price) and must not be allocated by the bank to any other specific fee or service, such as the appraisal, application fee, underwriting fee, and so on.  There is a points interview in Turbotax, and the concept is discussed in detail in publication 936.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p936.pdf

Some other closing costs are adjustments to your cost and are counted as increasing the purchase price, which may reduce your capital gains when you sell, but is not a tax deduction now.  And some closing costs are neither an adjustment to basis or otherwise deductible.  You just pay them and get no benefit.  A discussion of this issue is found in publication 523 on page 8.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p523.pdf