How many times have you done your taxes and, three weeks later, learned you had missed the opportunity for a deduction? Too many, I'm sure. How can you not miss these deductions the next time? Start planning now.
I've posted previously about What is Deductibe When Buying a Home, but here are two of the most often overlooked tax deductions for current homeowners that can affect your tax bill for 2007 and your tax planning for 2008.
New points on refinancing
With interest rates so low over the past few years - even in 2007 and 2008 - lots of homes have been refinanced, sometimes more than once.
Any points you pay to refinance your home can be deducted on a monthly basis over the life of the new loan. So, if you refinanced your mortgage on June 1, 2007, for a 20-year term, seven out of 240 months will have passed after Dec. 31. If you paid $2,400 in points, you can write off $70 ($10 a month for seven months) for 2007. You can write off $120 for 2007 and each year thereafter until the points have been deducted in full. The amount may not be huge, but every little bit helps.
Old points on refinancing
This is one deduction lots of people miss. All unamortized points on an old refinancing are deducted in the year of a new refinancing.
So, let's say you refinanced on June 1, 2006, and paid $2,400 in points. You refinanced again on June 1, 2007. You can deduct all the remaining points on the 2006 loan. That's $2,280 plus the $50 you could deduct for January through May 2007. Likewise, if you refinance the 2007 loan in 2008 (if interest rates stay low), you will be able to write off the remaining balance on your 2008 return. Full Story
Comments(2)