10 Homeowner Tax Breaks You Should Be Taking Advantage Of

Benjamin Franklin is quoted as stating, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

I understand his point, but I have a differing opinion. Taxes might be certain, but a wise planner can limit their taxable income with legal deductions. Real Estate ownership is one of the ways that can reduce your taxes.

Daniel Goldstein, Personal Finance Reporter for MarketWatch.com, created a helpful list of deductions available to homeowners, published on March 8, 2016. Here is a highlight of the article:

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If death and taxes are the two things you can always count on in life, there probably should be a third: the bucketful of tax breaks Uncle Sam offers every year to encourage more Americans to buy a home.

For one, Americans are able write off virtually all mortgage interest, not only for your primary home, but for a second home as well under some conditions — up to $1.1 million of debt when you include home-equity loans that are used for certain personal expenditures, such as funding college education. In most cases, homeowners are also able to write off their property taxes.

All told, homeowners (65% of Americans in 2013, down from an all-time high of 69% in 2004) have opportunities for dozens more federal income tax deductions than renters. In fact, only 21 states and the District of Columbia offer renters any kind of tax breaks or credits — generally credits for what is considered to be the percentage of property taxes that is rolled into a rent payment. (In Maryland, the state calculates that 15% of a monthly rental payment actually represents payments for property tax by the landlord and that increased property taxes are passed on to tenants in the form of increased rents.) Other states offer property tax credits to low-income households when the property tax payments exceed a certain ratio compared to their income.

“If you have taken out a homeowner’s loan, consider these deductions as Uncle Sam’s gift to you. These tax breaks will surely alleviate the financial burden of many taxpayers, especially those who are paying their mortgage,” says John Gregory, founder of 1040Return.com, a Baltimore-based tax-prep company.

In addition, the exclusion of capital gains from the sale of a principal residence (up to $250,000 for single taxpayers and $500,000 for married couples filing jointly) is another well-known real estate-related deduction. That deduction returned Americans $26 billion worth of federal revenue last year, and is expected to save Americans more than $27 billion they would otherwise owe to Uncle Sam in 2016, according to the CRS.

Some of the most significant tax breaks that only homeowners can claim are fairly well-known, such as the MID, but here are some others:

1. Points on home mortgage and refinancing: If you bought a home in 2015 with a mortgage, then in addition to the mortgage interest (which may not be a lot if you bought late in the calendar year), you can probably write off the points (both origination and discount points) on your tax return, says Jackie Perlman, principal tax research analyst at H&R Block. One point is equal to 1% of the principal loan amount. That’s because the IRS considers points to be prepaid interest.

The challenge is whether you’re eligible to deduct the points all at once, or whether you have to spread the costs out over the life of the loan. Generally, if you bought your first home using a loan or got a loan to build that first home, you can take the deduction all at once, the IRS says. For a second home, and often for a refinance on a first home, the IRS says you most likely have to spread it out. “You have to meet all the criteria in order to deduct them up front, otherwise you have to amortize them over the life of the loan,” she said. A good place to start, she says, is the IRS Tax Information for Homeowners guide.

2. Interest on home-improvement loan: The IRS considers the interest on a home-improvement loan fully deductible, up to $100,000 in debt. In addition, interest paid on a home equity line of credit (HELOC) is also tax-deductible. However, as Greg McBride, chief financial analyst with Bankrate.com, notes, any portion of a home loan that is over 100% loan-to-value (meaning the loan is worth more than the value of the property) isn’t deductible. If you own a second home, the mortgage interest paid may be deductible as long as you spend at least 14 days or 10% of the fair rental days (whichever is longer) in the home, says Ray Rodriguez, Regional Mortgage Sales Manager for Cherry Hills, New Jersey-based TD Bank.

3. Property tax: Property taxes are almost always tax-deductible, and more than half (54%) of American homeowners take this deduction, according to the Congressional Research Service, with American homeowners claiming $173 billion in 2011. As a result, about $30 billion will be returned to U.S. taxpayers in 2015, CRS says. Military service members (as well as clergy members) however can also write off real estate taxes and home mortgage interest even if they receive a housing allowance. Still, some things on your settlement document that might look like taxes really aren’t, says McBride. Transfer taxes, for example, and you can’t write off your attorney and appraisal fees, title insurance and credit report costs either, McBride notes.

4. Residential energy-efficient tax credit: If you made efforts in 2015 to make your home more energy efficient by installing equipment like storm doors, energy-efficient windows, asphalt or metal roofs, insulation, air-conditioning and heating systems, the IRS wants to give you a tax credit of up to $500. The credit has been extended as well through Dec. 31, 2016. “If you upgraded your home in 2015 by adding insulation, one of the most cost-effective upgrades you can make, you may be eligible for a tax credit on that investment,” said Ameeta Jain, co-founder of Long Beach, Calif.-based Homeselfe, a web-based residential energy audit site. “Not taking advantage of that is throwing away your hard-earned cash,” she said.

5. Renewable-energy tax credit: If you’ve installed equipment that uses renewable sources of energy, such as the sun and wind, to help power your home, you may be eligible for the Renewable Energy Efficiency Property Credit. You are eligible for this tax credit up to a whopping 30% of the cost of the equipment, installation included, so long as the equipment is placed in service by the end of December 2016. About 700,000 American homeowners have added residential solar equipment since 2010, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

6. Ground rent: There are rare situations in the U.S. for homeowners where the original owner still owns the land under your house after you’ve bought it, and you own the above ground property and “rent” the ground from the owner. The “ground rent” option reduces the cost of the home since you’re not buying the land. The IRS lets you get a break for this situation and thus “ground rent” amounts can be deducted if you have been paying the rent monthly or annually, so long as the lease is for more than 15 years. However, if you’re making a payment to capitalize the ground rent, to buy out the lessor’s interest to get out from under it every year, that payment isn’t deductible, the IRS says.

7. Income and interest on reverse mortgages: The IRS considers reverse mortgages as a loan advance not income, so the amount you receive isn’t taxable. But the interest accrued on a reverse mortgage isn’t deductible until the loan is paid off, so you can’t take a deduction each year for the interest as you might with the traditional mortgage interest you pay, says Gregory.

8. Private mortgage insurance: You may be eligible to claim the deduction for private mortgage insurance (PMI) or mortgage insurance premiums (such as those required on FHA loans) on your tax return. The deduction was set to expire after the 2014 tax year but was extended for both 2015 and 2016 tax years. Keep in mind that the deduction for qualified mortgage insurance premiums is reduced if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is over $100,000, and if it’s over $109,000 you can’t take the deduction at all. And you won’t get around that limitation if you’re married and filing separately, as the deduction begins to be reduced at $50,000 in AGI and disappears at $54,500.

9. Home expenses and improvement: If you make improvements to your property, you cannot write off the cost of home improvement, such as the materials and the labor. (Though you can write off the interest if you took out a home loan to pay Joe Contractor and purchase the materials.) However, when you sell your home, you can add the cost into the asking price of your property, which should diminish the capital gain when you sell your home, says Gregory of 1040Return.com. And while you can’t directly write off transfer or stamp taxes, as well as title insurance and costs of surveys, you can include them in your basis for what you paid when you bought your home.

10. Buying a home: The IRS allows first-time home buyers to withdraw up to $10,000 from their traditional IRA (and even Roth IRAs) penalty-free to help with the purchase of the home. Your spouse or even a parent, child, or grandchild can kick in another $10,000 from their IRA accounts, for a total of up to $20,000. You must use the money to buy, build, or substantially improve your first residence within 120 days of the withdrawal, says Perlman. You can also borrow half of your 401(k) balance up to $50,000 for the purchase of a home. But, the interest you pay on that 401(k) loan, unlike a mortgage loan, isn’t tax-deductible, she says.

It's not too late! Purchasing a home this year, qualifies you for your filing next year.