Can I Claim the Mortgage Interest Deduction?

Like most homeowners over the past couple of years, you may have discovered that you can no longer write off your property taxes or claim the mortgage interest deduction.

That doesn’t necessarily mean your taxes went up. The change is because the standard deduction nearly doubled starting in 2018, negating many homeowners‘ need to itemize their home-related expenses. Here’s a roundup of the rules affecting homeowners.

Standard Deduction

The standard deduction is the amount everyone gets to claim whether they have actual deductions or not. It skyrocketed after the 2017 tax law changes, and has gone up again, incrementally, for tax year 2022. It’s now $25,900 for married, joint-filing couples (up from $24,000 in tax year 2018). It’s $19,400 for heads of household (up from $18,000). And $12,950 for singles (up from $12,000).

Many more people now find the standard deduction is higher than their itemizable write-offs. In fact, the proportion of homeowners who now find it advantageous to itemize their deductions (including mortgage interest and property taxes) under the new rules has fallen from about one in three to around one in bad credit installment loans guaranteed approval 10000 10. Continue reading →