TAXES qualified mortgage insurance premiums

[thrillme]

What is qualified mortgage insurance premiums?

Turbo Tax asks: Enter your qualified mortgage insurance premiums you paid for real estate contracts issued on or after January, 1 2007.

Is this the insurance I have to pay on my house?

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

It is on the statement from your mortgage company. It's in box 4.

[medic9016]

I think this is for VA or FHA mortgage.

[Ruprect]

What is qualified mortgage insurance premiums?

Turbo Tax asks: Enter your qualified mortgage insurance premiums you paid for real estate contracts issued on or after January, 1 2007.

Is this the insurance I have to pay on my house?

Check with a professional (turbo tax should offer some online help) but I believe that is equivalent to PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance). If you are unable to afford 20% down on a home frequently you will have to pay PMI in addition to your regular mortgage.

That's what it sounds like anyway.

[RenDuran]

If it was homeowner's insurance it would be phrased that way.

If you look at your 1040 instructions, page A-7 it says that you "should enter the qualified mortgage insurance premiums you paid under a mortgage insurance contract issued during 2007 in connection with home acquisition debt that was secured by your first or second home." Several that are listed as qualified insurance providers for this are the Dept of VA, FHA and something called Rural Housing Service.

I wish I could have deducted PMI years ago when we bought our first house!

[Ian]

Yeah, this is new for 2007. This is the first time you can deduct PMI (Personal Mortgage Insurance) as an expense on your taxes.

Basically, mortgage insurance is required on any mortgage where the loan-to-value ratio (which is the ratio of your mortgage loan amount divided by the lesser of the sales price or appraised value of your home) is greater than 80%.

Example:

Your home is valued at $500,000 and you have a mortgage for $420,000. Your loan-to-value ratio is 84%, so you require PMI.

This is applicable on any type of mortgage (for the most part), not just FHA and VA.

[Jeff G]

Just to add my :twocents:.

If you purchased or refinanced your house since January 1, 2007 and you are paying PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) this applies to you. This is NOT for your homeowners insurance. PMI is a premium paid to an independent insurance company who is insuring your mortgage company for losses on loans that exceed 80% thresh hold. These loans include conventional conforming, FHA & VA loans.

The big thing here is that if your mortgage was opened before the 1/1/07 time frame this deduction does not apply to you.

If your not sure if you are qualifying I would seek further clarification from an tax professional.

[thrillme]

I finally found the answer. Yes ya'll are very right PMI is some type of insurance when you finance your home. This is the first year you can claim it. We assumed the house in '95 so there was never really anything to do with this.

It's a bummer really it would have given me back about another $300 to my refund.

I can't say anything bad about Turbotax. I E-filed "thinking" I did everything right then wanted to kick myself when I realized I probably messed it up. I immediately started looking for what I needed to do to amend it. Well somewhere between then and now (acceptance) they figured out that I was "dumber than a sack of rocks" and fixed it for me without me having to file an amendment. I have no clue how that worked out but I received an email stating the correct amount rather than my "greedy" amount.

Sigh I'm not sure I get the whole scheme of things sometimes. I make more, I pay more I get less. If I make less, pay less I get more...go figure.

Alas a refund is a refund and ANYTHING is better than having to pay.

[RenDuran]

I make more, I pay more I get less. If I make less, pay less I get more...go figure.

It's funny how that works, isn't it?!