Paying off a mortgage

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
February 18, 2026
2 replies
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I have few deductions and would like to explore whether using standard or itemizing would be best for me and how TurboTax can help me do that ?

Would it be beneficial for me tax wise to pay off my $100,000 mortgage at 3 7/8 interest rate if using the standard deduction?

Ask the Experts - Maximize - Feb 2026

RogerD1

Level 6

When entering your information in TurboTax, you will enter your Mortgage Interest and property taxes in the Deductions and Credits section of the return. Once you are finished with Deductions and Credits, TurboTax will show you graphically whether Itemizing or Standard deduction is better for you. For most tax filers, the standard deduction is more beneficial than itemizing.

There is no tax benefit for paying off your mortgage early as you will mostly be paying down the principal with a small portion of the paydown going toward interest that has accrued since your previous payment.

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Mike9241

Level 15

if you can't itemize paying off the mortgage might make sense because you are getting no tax benefit from the interest. However, you do not want to leave yourself house-rich but cash-poor, which means that if a "cash" emergency arose, you would have to borrow at a much higher rate. The general recommendation is to have 3 to 6 months of cash available to cover emergencies. Tax laws are now much more complicated, so it's a question of what the tax consequences would be if you had a spare $100,000. For some taxpayers, not paying off would be economically better, while for others, the reverse would be true.

Mike9241