Buying a home? Know your points

Falling interest rates have created renewed excitement in the real estate market, and potential homebuyers are once again exploring new home options.

If you’re in the process of buying a home, or you just bought one, you may have wondered if you can deduct mortgage points paid on your behalf by the seller. The answer is “yes” – but subject to significant limitations.

Basics of points

Points are upfront fees charged by a mortgage lender, expressed as a percentage of the loan principal. Points may be deductible if you itemize deductions and are usually the buyer’s obligation. However, a seller sometimes sweetens a deal by agreeing to pay the points on the buyer’s mortgage loan.

In most cases, points that a buyer pays are a deductible interest expense. And seller-paid points may also be deductible.

Suppose, for example, that you bought a home for $600,000. In connection with a $500,000 mortgage loan, your bank charged two points, or $10,000. The seller agreed to pay the points to close the sale.

You can deduct the $10,000 in the year of sale. The only disadvantage is that your tax basis is reduced to $590,000, which will mean more gain if — and when — you sell the home for more than that amount. But that may not happen until many years later, and the gain may not be taxable anyway. You may qualify for an exclusion of up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly) of gain on the sale of a principal residence.

Important limits

Some important limitations exist on the rule allowing a deduction for seller-paid points. The rule doesn’t apply to points that are:

• Allocated to the part of a mortgage above $750,000 ($375,000 for marrieds filing separately) for tax years 2018 through 2025 (above $1 million for tax years before 2018 and after 2025)
• On a loan used to improve (rather than buy) a home
• On a loan used to buy a vacation or second home, investment property or business property
• Paid on a refinancing, or home equity loan or line of credit

Tax aspects of the transaction

Consult a tax planning expert to determine whether the points in your home purchase are deductible, as well as to discuss other crucial tax aspects of your transaction.

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