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Level 2
April 4, 2022
Question

Multiple 1098 for refinance

  • April 4, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 2 views

I refinanced my original loan in 2020 with lender A. Lender A sold my loan to lender B in 2021. I got 1098-B(s) from lender A and lender B, both with the same outstanding mortgage principal in the form, which is a bit weird.

 

- For the question: Is this loan a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or a refinance of a previous loan, should I answer yes for both 1098-B from lender A and lender B or only lender A, as lender A sold my loan to lender B, instead of a refinance?

- It seems the federal tax due jumped up significantly (several thousands) when I answer yes for the question above. Is that expected?

- It seems TurboTax treated the 2 1098-B forms as separated loans and asked what was the outstanding loan balance on Jan 1st, 2022. As lender A sold my loan to lender B in the middle of 2022, I am not sure how to answer the question for lender A.

1 reply

Level 10
April 4, 2022

Since you did not actually refinance, the easiest way to report this is to combine the two 1098s and report them as one in TurboTax. This avoids any potential that your deductible interest is limited more than it should be due to the amount of mortgage principal being double-counted.

 

To report this:

  1. In the Federal > Deductions & Credits section of your return, scroll down to Your Home and click Revisit/Start next to Mortgage Interest and Refinancing (Form 1098)
  2. Answer the questions and enter the information from your Form 1098s. You can enter your original mortgage lender for the name:
    1. Box 1 Mortgage interest - Add the amounts together from both 1098s
    2. Box 2 Outstanding Mortgage Principal - Use the amount reported on the older loan
    3. Box 3 Mortgage Origination Date - Use the date reported on the older loan
    4. Boxes 5 & 6 - Use the combined totals from both 1098s
    5. Make sure Box 7 is checked
  3. Answer What kind of property is this loan secured by?
  4. Answer Tell us about any points. If you had points on your first loan that were not completely deducted at the time of purchase, you may continue to spread them out over the new loan.
  5. Answer Yes to Let's see if this is the most recent form for this loan.
  6. Answer No to Is this the original loan used to buy your property? 
  7. Answer Yes to Is this loan a HELOC or a refinance? 
  8. Answer Did you take cash out? If you did in 2020, you will be asked some follow-up questions to determine if the cash was used on the house. Otherwise, the interest for the portion of the loan that was cashed out is not deductible. 
  9. Once you are back in the Home loan deduction summary screen, click Done. If your outstanding loan principal reported in Box 2 exceeds $750,000, you will be asked some follow-up questions.
  10. Enter the original purchase date of the property 
  11. Answer Do either of these apply to this loan? If the home was originally purchased prior to December 15, 2017, a higher mortgage limit applies on your home acquisition debt. 
  12. Enter the outstanding loan balance reported on January 1, 2022 in the first field for the loan. You should be able to get this from a monthly statement from the new mortgage provider. Leave the second field blank.
ivoryAuthor
Level 2
April 4, 2022

Thanks for the reply! I followed the steps as advised. However, the federal tax due is still a lot more than not marking the loan as a refinance.

 

More specifically, when I answer "No" to "Is this loan a home equity line of credit or a refinance of a previous loan", the tax due dropped around $4k. By the way, the outstanding balance is below $750k and I purchased the house before 12/15/2017. I did not take cash out when I refinanced either.

 

I am actually quite confused about those 2 questions:

- Is this the original loan you used to buy your property? - Answered No

- Is this loan a home equity line of credit or a refinance of a previous loan? - Answered Yes

 

If someone answered no for the first question then they should always answer yes for the second question, right? It seems I got penalty by answering yes for the second question or I miss-entered/understood something.

DaveF1006
Level 15
April 4, 2022

If you are combining two 1098 as RaifH suggests, enter yes when it asks if this is the original loan. You won't get penalized if you answer in this manner.

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