Mortgage paid off, what is the "final principal balance"?

[John Doe]

If you paid off your mortgage in 2018, what do you put for "final principal balance"? The TurboTax page says "If you paid off your loan this year, we need the balance before you made your final payment.", however, the answer by the TurboTax TaxPro on this question (https://intuit.me/2TAHzTc) says to put $0. Which is right?

[Vanessa · Accepted solution]

If you paid off the loan in 2018, then put $0.  If you paid off the loan in 2019 (this year), then you will enter your final principal balance (your balance on 12/31/18)

[heatherado]

What if your balance was paid off in March? Do you still use the December balance, or do you use the final balance on the payoff statement from the mortgage company?

[MarFlo]

It's now 2020 and your solution doesn't work for mortgage paid off in 2019. When I put "0" for balance after entering the interest paid in 2019, TurboTax generates this error message in red: "Outstanding mortgage principal must have a value." The mortgage company didn't send a 1098 because the interest is under $600. How do I get past this page and still have my interest credited? Going through "Forms" and Step-by-Step as suggested in another 2019 post on this subject does not work for me. TurboTax needs to add a "Mortgage paid off last year" option as a workaround.

[HelenC12]

The outstanding mortgage amount is the balance as of 1/1/2019 not 12/31/2019. 

[Reluctant_Poster]

Disregard my original. Since it doesn't present form instructions to us directly, the program ought to specify beginning-of-year or end-of-year. "Outstanding" generally means what remains, not what is begun with.