It’s that time of year again when numbers such as 1040, W-2 and INT-1099 become all too familiar to millions of people. One of the benefits of holding a mortgage on your house is the ability to claim certain deductions that can assist you in offsetting some of your tax burden. As you prepare to file your yearly taxes let’s look at a few areas where you can take advantage of tax deductions and keep a little more green in your pocket this tax season.
The most obvious deduction that many tax filers take advantage of is the interest paid on the mortgage for their primary residence. For those of us with a mortgage balance of less than $1 million dollars (and hopefully that is the majority of us!) you can fill out Schedule A, also known as “itemized deductions”, and claim all the interest paid in the previous year on your mortgage. Keep in mind this is for your primary residence (where you live) only and does not include other properties and houses you may own for rental purposes, etc. If you paid off your mortgage this year and were slapped with a pre-payment penalty you can also use Schedule A to take a deduction on those fees as...