Deducting Points On Home Refinances
It is no secret that millions of homeowners have been refinancing mortgages to take advantage of low interest rates. If you refinanced your home, you may have paid points on your new mortgage. The good news is that you can claim a deduction for these points as well as a deduction if you paid points on your previous mortgage.
Any points that you pay in the refinancing of your residence are tax deductible over the length of the loan in question. The deduction is allowable only if the residence is your primary home and the new mortgage replaces a previous one and/or is used to improve the residence. To the extent that money is taken out to pay off credit cards and non-residence costs, the points may not be used as a tax deduction.
Big Deductions By Refinancing Twice
If you refinanced your primary residence twice during 2009, you may be in for a very nice surprise. A significant tax deduction can be created when you refinance twice in one year. If you refinance a mortgage, you accelerate the deductible amount of points from the first mortgage and may claim the points from the first mortgage all at once.
As an example, assume that I refinanced my home in January 2009 and paid $3,000 in points. Interest rates continued to drop through the year and I then decided to refinance again in August. Because I paid off the original loan with the refinance, I am able to accelerate the value of the points of the January loan.
So, what tax deductions have I created for my 2009 filing period? Initially, I am going to deduct a percentage of the points off of my latest refinance. The deduction will amount to the total amount of points paid divided by the total months of the loan. This will not be a big deduction, but every little bit helps.
In addition to this amount, however, I will also deduct the full $3,000 in points that I paid on my January 2009 refinance! I am able to claim this deduction because I "accelerated" the deductibility of the points by paying off the January mortgage with the August refinance.