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If you’re thinking about becoming a homeowner any time soon, there are tax benefits to buying. In particular, tax deductions are one way to reduce your tax bill and income. Tax deductions are different from credits. Credits are money that gets taken off a tax bill. You can think of them somewhat like a coupon. A tax deduction reduces your adjusted gross income or AGI, reducing your tax liability.

The following are key tax benefits and things to know for homebuyers or possible homebuyers.

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Mortgage Interest Deduction

Homeowners can deduct  interest on their home mortgage for the first $750,000 of mortgage debt. That limit is $375,000 if you’re married and filing separately. If you bought your home prior to December 16, 2017, an old limit of $1 million applies, and $500,000 if you’re married but filing separately.

In January, at the tax year’s end, a lender sends you Form 1098. This details the interest you paid over the previous year. You should include the interest you paid as part of the closing too.

Your lender includes interest for the partial initial month of your mortgage as part of your closing. You can locate this on your settlement sheet. If it’s not included on the 1098, add it to your total mortgage interest.

Mortgage Points Deduction

If you paid mortgage points to a lender as part of your loan or refinancing, then each point you buy will generally cost 1% of the total loan. They lower your interest rate by 0.25% each. If you paid, let’s say, $300,000 for your home, every point equals $3,000. If your interest rate is 4% in this example, the one point will lower your rate to 3.75% for the rest of your loan. You would get a deduction if you gave your lender money for your discount points.

If you refinanced your loan or took out a home equity line of credit, you are eligible for a deduction for points for your loan’s life.

Every time you’re making a payment on your mortgage, a smaller percentage of the points is built into your loan, and you can deduct that amount for every month you make payments. Again, your lender sends Form 1098, which details what you paid in interest on your mortgage and mortgage points.

You can claim the deduction based on that information on Schedule A of your Form 1040 or 1040-SR.

Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)

If you have private mortgage insurance, which lenders usually charge to borrowers who put down less than 20% on a conventional loan, you may be able to deduct your payments. PMI usually costs anywhere from $30 to $70 monthly for every $100,000 borrowed. As with other types of mortgage insurance, PMI protects a lender if you don’t make your mortgage payments.

Whether or not you can deduct PMI payments can depend on when you bought your home and your income.

The IRS says that homeowners can treat what you pay for PMI as interest on a home mortgage. If your adjusted gross income is under $100,000 or $50,000 if married, filing separately, you’re eligible for the full deduction here.

If you’re above that threshold, the deduction is phased out. If your AGI is above $109,000 or $54,500 to file separately as a married person, you aren’t eligible to take the deduction.

State and Local Tax Deduction

The state and local tax deduction, also known as SALT, lets you deduct some taxes you pay to the state or local government, but you have to itemize on your federal return.

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, there was a cap on previously unlimited deductions. The cap is $10,000 per year in combined property taxes and either state income or sales taxes. The cap applies whether you’re single or married filing jointly. It goes down to $5,000 if you’re married and filing separately.

Home Sale Exclusion

If you profit after selling your home, you may not have to pay taxes. If you’ve owned and then lived in the home for at least two of the five years before the sale, you won’t pay taxes on the initial $250,000 of your profit. This profit is your capital gain. If you’re married, filing jointly, that number goes up to $500,000.

However, at least one of the spouses has to meet an ownership requirement. Both spouses must meet a residency requirement, meaning they have lived in the home for two of the past five years.

Tax Credits

Finally, you could qualify for a mortgage credit if you received a mortgage credit certificate or MCC from a state or local government agency under a qualified mortgage credit certification program. You can also see if your state offers rebates, tax credits, or incentives for making improvements to your home to make it more energy efficient. | BidBuddy.com

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Investing your tax refund is a fantastic way to start building wealth.

If you received a tax refund from Uncle Sam this year, you shouldn’t celebrate just yet. Aside from the fact that it was your money to begin with (not a friendly gift from the government), you may have some adjusting to do before next tax season rolls around.

If you are having too much withheld from your paycheck, you are basically lending the government your money for free. What’s worse is that you are losing out on time that your money could be growing for you. If this is the case, be sure to adjust your federal income withholding allowances or revisit your W-4.  

That is not to say that a lump sum of cash from the government doesn’t make you feel good. With that being said, don’t get caught treating your refund any differently that you would your paycheck. Your money is valuable, and just like your paycheck, each dollar of your refund should be given a purpose.

Last year in 2023, the average tax refund payment was more than $2,753 according to the IRS. If you are one of those people who received a tax refund this year, before you squander your tax refund on a vacation or another big ticket item, first consider a few ways you can make that money work for you.

Here are several suggestions for what to do with you tax refund:

Table of Contents
1. Contribute to Your Emergency Fund2. Pay Off Your Debt3. Save More for Retirement and Other Goals4. Refinance Your Mortgage or Make Home Improvements5. Invest in a Taxable Account6. Give to Charity7. Start Your Own BusinessBonus: Change Your Withholdings To Not Receive A RefundFinal Thoughts

1. Contribute to Your Emergency Fund

Have you considered what would happen if you were laid off from your job unexpectedly, or faced a big unexpected expense? If you aren’t prepared for this or a slew of other misfortunes that you could be faced with, you may want to consider holding on to your tax refund.

At least a few months of easily accessible “rainy-day” cash is recommended. Although it has been said by some financial experts that six months to a year of emergency cash is necessary. The extent to which you save for an emergency is largely dependent upon your situation though.  

Putting some (or all) of your tax refund money into a savings account as your emergency fund can be a savvy way to build wealth. It’s likely the simplest way to start investing your tax refund. The best high-yield savings accounts are earning over 5% interest right now!

Read our full guide to emergency funds here.

2. Pay Off Your Debt

Possibly worse than an unexpected emergency is a present day emergency otherwise known as debt.

If you are one of the many Americans faced with high interest debt, you should be focusing on cutting expenses and channeling every free dollar into your debt. Furthermore, it is often recommended to pay off your debt before even starting an emergency fund (we don’t agree, but you still shouldn’t avoid paying off your debt). 

The logic behind this is that if you’re already in debt and you burn through your emergency fund, you will be without the financial option of borrowing money. Borrowing money on credit cards is never an attractive option, but in dire circumstances it may be necessary.

According to the latest data from Forbes, the average credit card APR is 27.92%. Yikes! 

Here’s an example of why you should pay this debt off. Let’s say you owe $2,753 in credit card debt at 27.92% APR. If you only make the minimum payment of $200 per month, it would take you 1 year 5 months, and you’d pay an extra $603.97 in interest on that amount. If you took your tax refund and paid it off, you’d avoid all that extra interest – saving you $600! Now, you’ll walk away with no credit card balance – and you can start investing in other areas of your financial life!

Note: If you have student loan debt, now might NOT be the best time to pay those off (due to loan forgiveness programs and more). Instead, focus on other debt like credit cards or auto debt.

3. Save More for Retirement and Other Goals

If your financial house is in order and you’ve accumulated a healthy emergency fund and you are debt-free, another option to consider for you tax refund is to invest it.

The average American is not allocating enough money to retirement.  Many financial advisors recommend investing 10% to 15% of your annual income to retirement, but obviously with the time value of money, the earlier you invest, the better.

If you got a late start on investing, it is never too late to bridge the gap. A $2,753 tax refund will certainly help get you closer to your goals. In fact, that amount would be half of what you can contribute to your IRA this year.

Let’s break down what investing your tax refund would look like. It you invested $2,753 at an average return of 9% (which is actually slightly lower than the historical S&P 500 average), and never added any more money, you’d have:

* After 20 Years: $15,428.94
* After 30 Years: $36,525.92

That’s the power of compound interest! And if you invested your tax refund in your retirement account, that money could even be tax-free in the future!

4. Refinance Your Mortgage or Make Home Improvements

Mortgage rates are at all time lows. If you’re financially prepared and ready to buy, there really is no better time. If you already own a home you can take advantage of these interest rates by refinancing and paying for your closing costs and fees with your refund. This will allow you to save money immediately in interest payments.

If you are really ambitious, you can keep paying the same monthly mortgage amount, and cut away at the principal you owe. Furthermore, if there is a high dollar project that you have been putting off, now may be the perfect time to knock it off the list. Home improvement projects are a great way to add value to your home and usually the benefits are immediate.

Related: Best Places To Refinance Your Mortgage Online

5. Invest in a Taxable Account

If you’ve already maxed out your tax-sheltered accounts you are definitely ahead of the pack and you probably don’t need to hear this advice. Opening a brokerage account can be a great way to further diversify your portfolio and make your money grow for you.

Since these investments are fully taxable, it may be a good idea to steer towards low expense investments or tax efficient mutual funds or ETFs. 

A taxable account works just like a retirement account – you ave your investment portfolio of stocks and bonds. The only difference is that these aren’t tax-advantaged. 

6. Give to Charity

Depending on who you are this may be number one on your list. For others on a tight budget, giving to charity can be difficult. A tax refund is a chance to contribute to a charity of your choice.

Giving to charitable causes may not give back in the form of dividends or capital gains, but sometimes the benefits a donation can create are more valuable than anything money could buy. Not to mention you can deduct charitable contributions on your taxes.

7. Start Your Own Business

If you have a business idea that you’ve been putting off, a refund may be just what you need to get things off the ground. This is a great way to see return on your investment, and tax deductions can be taken on your small business as well. 

If you don’t know where to start, we have a list of the 15 best online business ideas you can start right now at home.

Bonus: Change Your Withholdings To Not Receive A Refund

An option you may not have thoughts about is simply changing your tax withholdings from your paycheck so you don’t get a refund – but rather owe. That might seem crazy, but remember, a tax refund is just a refund of extra money you’ve paid to the IRS all year. It’s your money!

If you change your W4 withholdings on your paycheck, you’ll get bigger paychecks all year long. Then, at tax time, you would pay any difference you owe. This is something that most savvy investors and high net worth individuals do. Never let the IRS get extra money that belongs to you.

The only drawback here: you need to plan to write a check to the IRS in April. If you don’t save or have the money, you could be in trouble. So, before you go adjusting your withholdings, make sure you have a plan.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of how much of a refund you are receiving, if you are receiving one at all, a tax refund should be treated with just as much value as any other dollar you have earned. If nothing else, it should be treated with more value, since you are basically being paid for work you did throughout the year.

Whether your refund was expected or not, it should be used in the way that is most advantageous to wherever you are in life. As tempting as it is to treat yourself to something that you want, just like all of your hard earned dollars, investing in something that will advance you in your goals is far greater than any item that could be bought in a mall.

What other investment ideas do you have for your tax refund?

Editor: Claire Tak

Reviewed by: Ashley Barnett

The post 7 Ideas For Investing Your Tax Refund To Get The Most Out Of It appeared first on The College Investor. | BidBuddy.com

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