🏡 The paperwork nobody mentions when you buy, refinance, or sell a house

Add up your expected mortgage interest, property taxes, and other itemized deductions for the year.

Compare that total to the 2026 standard deduction: $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly.

Remember SALT is capped at $40,400 and mortgage interest is capped on the first $750,000 of debt.

If the total doesn’t clear the standard deduction, don’t count on a bigger refund just because you bought a house.

Confirm the loan is secured by your main home.

Confirm paying points is standard practice in your area and the amount isn’t unusually high.

Confirm you’re paying the points with your own funds, not money borrowed from the lender.

If all three check out, points are fully deductible the year you pay them.

Set aside appraisal fees, title insurance, recording fees, and attorney fees — not deductible now, but added to your cost basis.

Save the closing disclosure somewhere you’ll actually find it again. That basis bump matters when you sell and lean on the Section 121 exclusion.

Check the settlement statement for how property taxes were split between you and the seller based on days owned.

Deduct only your share — not the full total that may show up later on your year-end mortgage statement.

Purchase points: fully deductible the year paid.

Refinance points: divide by the number of loan payments and deduct a slice each year. $6,000 in points on a 30-year refi ≈ $200/year, which will not, in fact, change your life.

Sell or refinance again with a different lender before the term’s up? Whatever’s left becomes deductible in full that year.

Interest is only deductible on cash used to buy, build, or substantially improve the home securing the loan.

Spend it on tuition, credit cards, or a boat, and that portion of interest isn’t deductible, no matter how firmly the loan is still secured by your house.

Keep records of what the cash actually paid for. “I think some of it went to the kitchen” is NOT documentation.

A home held for decades can outgrow the $250,000/$500,000 exclusion without much trouble, especially if you bought it back when a “starter home” actually started somewhere reasonable.

Track every capital improvement over the years — additions, a new roof, a finished basement — since they raise basis and shrink taxable gain. That kitchen remodel you complained about for six months? It’s finally doing something for you.

The full $500,000 exclusion is available only if you sell within two years of your spouse’s death and haven’t remarried.

Miss the window and you’re back to the $250,000 single-filer limit. The IRS does not offer bereavement leave.

Widowed homeowners often get a step-up in basis on their late spouse’s share, more so in community property states — worth a conversation before listing.

Moving expenses aren’t deductible for most people anymore. Sorry.

HOA fees and condo dues at the new place aren’t deductible either, even though they can rival your old mortgage payment for the privilege of someone else mowing the lawn.

Budget the move as pure cost, not a future write-off. The IRS does not care that you’re only downsizing because your knees asked you to.

In 1999, the Langers landscaped the property and added outdoor lighting, over $28,000 combined, and tried to depreciate the landscaping like it was office equipment.

The court said no: land generally isn’t depreciable, and this landscaping wasn’t tied closely enough to a depreciable asset to qualify.

The lighting fared better — partially depreciable over 39 years, at the same business-use percentages. Small win. Very small.

$2,446 in pool supplies, claimed because parents waited poolside during piano lessons. The court called this “beyond belief and contrary to all reason,” which is Tax Court for, “Absolutely not.”

A $2,635 crystal vase, bought to cheer Henry up after 9/11 and because he likes fresh flowers — a purchase with real emotional logic and zero business logic.

Valentine’s and birthday flowers, a graduation party, alumni club dues, sweaters, holiday decorations, a nativity set, cookbooks, and a TV, all claimed as business expenses, all denied. At some point this stops looking like a tax strategy and starts looking like a Christmas list.

65% business use of a Mercedes SUV with no mileage log, plus a $5,223 interest deduction that included an undocumented loan from the Langers’ own daughter. Both were, shockingly, disallowed.

🌡️ Mortgage rates just hit a 13-month high — Freddie Mac’s 30-year average climbed to 6.69% this week. Congratulations to no one.

🏛️ The IRS employees’ union is asking a judge to block Trump’s audit immunity deal, arguing the settlement — which permanently shields the president, his sons, and the Trump Organization from current audits — forces career staff to choose between a political order and the law they’re sworn to enforce.

👶 The paid family leave tax credit is now permanent, and the IRS just explained how employers can claim it based on insurance premiums instead of just wages.

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