Interestingly enough, the US
tax code makes no substantive distinction between United States based real
estate and real estate in a foreign country, when it comes to the question of
being able to deduct mortgage interest or property taxes. In point of
fact, the rules for being able to deduct either are the same.
Therefore, in order to proceed
mechanically in TurboTax, just make your entries in the deductions section as
though the Indian home were your home in the United States.
You will enter
your qualified foreign mortgage interest as if you had a Form 1098.
You can take
both qualified foreign mortgage interest paid and foreign real estate taxes
paid as an itemized deduction on your tax return. Deductible real estate taxes are generally any
state, local, or foreign taxes on real property imposed by local government in
a uniform manner.
To enter
your mortgage interest in
TurboTax Online or Desktop, please follow these steps:
- Once you
are in your tax return, type "mortgage interest" into search box
on blue dashboard
- Click
on Jump to Mortgage
Interest (in blue)
- On the
"Mortgage deduction summary" screen, click Add a lender
- Enter
lender information and on the "Let's get the details from your bank
1098 now" screen, enter your foreign amount paid for mortgage
interest in Box 1. (TurboTax has no separate screen to enter
mortgage interest notreported
on a Form 1098).
To enter real estate taxes paid:
- Once you
are in your tax return, click on the Federal
Taxes tab ("Personal" tab in TurboTax Home &
Business)
- Click
on Federal Taxes tab
- Choose
Deductions and Credits tab
- Click
on Show more down
arrow next to Your Home (in
blue to the right)
- Click
on Start button to right
of Property Taxes
