Are Mortgage Insurance Premiums Deductible?

Generally, home mortgage interest is any interest you pay on a loan secured by your home (main home or a second home). The loan may be a mortgage to buy your home, or a second mortgage.

You can’t deduct home mortgage interest unless the following conditions are met.

• You file Form 1040 or 1040-SR and itemize deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040).
• The mortgage is a secured debt on a qualified home in which you have an ownership interest. Secured Debt and Qualified Home are explained later.

In addition, in some cases, mortgage insurance premiums can be deductible. Contact your tax lawyer for more information.

Deductible Mortgage Interest

In most cases, you can deduct all of your home mortgage interest. How much you can deduct depends on the date of the mortgage, the amount of the mortgage, and how you use the mortgage proceeds.

If all of your mortgages fit into one or more of the following three categories at all times during the year, you can deduct all of the interest on those mortgages. (If any one mortgage fits into more than one category, add the debt that fits in each category to your other debt in the same category.) If one or more of your mortgages doesn’t fit into any of these categories, use Part II of this publication to figure the amount of interest you can deduct.

The three categories are as follows.

1. Mortgages you took out on or before October 13, 1987 (called grandfathered debt).
2. Mortgages you (or your spouse if married filing a joint return) took out after October 13, 1987, and prior to December 16, 2017 (see binding contract exception below), to buy, build, or substantially improve your home (called home acquisition debt), but only if throughout 2020 these mortgages plus any grandfathered debt totaled $1 million or less ($500,000 or less if married filing separately).Exception. A taxpayer who enters into a written binding contract before December 15, 2017, to close on the purchase of a principal residence before January 1, 2018, and who purchases such residence before April 1, 2018, is considered to have incurred the home acquisition debt prior to December 16, 2017.
3. Mortgages you (or your spouse if married filing a joint return) took out after December 15, 2017, to buy, build, or substantially improve your home (called home acquisition debt), but only if throughout 2020 these mortgages plus any grandfathered debt totaled $750,000 or less ($375,000 or less if married filing separately).

The dollar limits for the second and third categories apply to the combined mortgages on your main home and second home.

Deduction for Home Mortgage Insurance Premiums

You can treat amounts you paid during 2020 for qualified mortgage insurance as home mortgage interest. The insurance must be in connection with home acquisition debt, and the insurance contract must have been issued after 2006.

Qualified mortgage insurance.

Qualified mortgage insurance is mortgage insurance provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Housing Administration, or the Rural Housing Service, and private mortgage insurance (as defined in section 2 of the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, as in effect on December 20, 2006).

Mortgage insurance provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs is commonly known as a funding fee. If provided by the Rural Housing Service, it is commonly known as a guarantee fee. The funding fee and guarantee fee can either be included in the amount of the loan or paid in full at the time of closing. These fees can be deducted fully in 2020 if the mortgage insurance contract was issued in 2020. Contact the mortgage insurance issuer to determine the deductible amount if it is not reported in box 5 of Form 1098.

Special rules for prepaid mortgage insurance.

Generally, if you paid premiums for qualified mortgage insurance that are properly allocable to periods after the close of the tax year, such premiums are treated as paid in the period to which they are allocated. You must allocate the premiums over the shorter of the stated term of the mortgage or 84 months, beginning with the month the insurance was obtained. No deduction is allowed for the unamortized balance if the mortgage is satisfied before its term. This paragraph does not apply to qualified mortgage insurance provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Rural Housing Service.

Example.

Ryan purchased a home in May of 2020 and financed the home with a 15-year mortgage. Ryan also prepaid all of the $9,240 in private mortgage insurance required at the time of closing in May. Since the $9,240 in private mortgage insurance is allocable to periods after 2020, Ryan must allocate the $9,240 over the shorter of the life of the mortgage or 84 months. Ryan’s adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2020 is $76,000. Ryan can deduct $880 ($9,240 ÷ 84 x 8 months) for qualified mortgage insurance premiums in 2020. For 2021, Ryan can deduct $1,320 ($9,240 ÷ 84 x 12 months) if his AGI is $100,000 or less.

In this example, the mortgage insurance premiums are allocated over 84 months, which is shorter than the life of the mortgage of 15 years (180 months).

Limit on deduction.

If your adjusted gross income on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 11, is more than $100,000 ($50,000 if your filing status is married filing separately), the amount of your mortgage insurance premiums that are otherwise deductible is reduced and may be eliminated. See line 8d in the Instructions for Schedule A (Form 1040) and complete the Mortgage Insurance Premiums Deduction Worksheet to figure the amount you can deduct. If your adjusted gross income is more than $109,000 ($54,500 if married filing separately), you cannot deduct your mortgage insurance premiums.

If you have questions about tax deductions, contact a tax attorney. If you have received an IRS audit letter informing you that you have been audited, you can find more here information about IRS audit preparation.