I’m receiving gleeful emails from various private mortgage insurance companies announcing that mortgage insurance will once again be tax deductible. This is thanks to the PATH Act extending certain tax benefits to eligible home owners.
The deduction is available for mortgage insurance that is paid in 2015 and 2016 to people who obtained their mortgage after 2006. Mortgage insurance includes private mortgage insurance (PMI) and government forms of mortgage insurance that is paid on FHA, USDA and VA mortgages.
The mortgage insurance tax deduction is essentially treated the same as the mortgage interest write off that home owners who pay a mortgage are eligible for. With the mortgage insurance deduction, the benefit starts to phase out for a tax payer with an AGI of $100,000. In order to take advantage of this deduction, you must itemize your taxes.
This benefit does not apply to investment properties.
For more information, please consult your tax professional. I’m not a tax expert, I specialize at helping people with the mortgage needs for homes located anywhere in Washington state. 🙂
Why not just go with a prepaid single PMI option? Paid with a slightly higher interest rate, but interest duduction doesn’t have a phase out and isn’t subject to yearly congress action to keep it deductible.
Hi Shawn, borrowers should compare all options to see what makes the most sense. With monthly (more traditional) pmi, a home owner has the possibility of having the mortgage insurance removed from their mortgage payment with out the expense of a refi should they have enough equity in their home and/or the pmi will drop off automatically when they have enough equity. .