Mortgage Interest deduction much higher than reported 1098 interest

[thomas1923]

We have one loan in 2021.  We have interest that gets slightly limited due to the amount of the loan, it just dropped under $1mil this year.

I entered all the info about the house, loan amounts, and purchase date but then on the summary page it's like $4,000 higher.  I can't see where that is coming from.

Looking at 2020, that number too seems to be higher than the 1098 show.  I had 2 in 2020 so I didn't think to really add them up.  It is like $5k higher.  

Is this related to the points somehow?  

Thanks.

This shows 24,706 INterest and 351 points.

Here it shows 29966 total deductions.

[RaifH]

Your second picture didn't show up. Can you clarify what is showing that is $4,000 higher than the interest you actually paid on your mortgage? The additional deduction due to the points is showing up on the first screen as $351. You generally deduct the cost of the points over the life of the loan, so if you paid about $10,000 in points for a 30-year loan that would come out to about $351. 

[thomas1923]

Sorry, I looked right when I submitted it.  I think I got the 2nd picture updated correctly now.

It shows $29,966 as the deduction amount on the Summary page.  So I don't know why they don't match.

Thanks for your help.

[RaifH · Accepted solution]

That number represents your mortgage interest paid this year and the total points paid for this loan. As I said earlier, the deductible portion of your points is determined by the amount paid divided by the life of your loan. In your case, it looks like you paid $5,260 in points for a 15-year loan.

I have no idea why it chooses to display this number instead of just the deductible points. If you look on Schedule A and the related home mortgage interest worksheet, you will see that your mortgage interest deduction is being calculated correctly.