my wife told me to ask to see if anyone on the club can tell us about how our new home and new mortage will affect her income tax and how does she file it.? and what exactly can she file.?

i think i asked the question right. my thing is flooring not taxes. :?

Mortgage interest can be written off. It is a big help when ya have enough to itemize. Vital49 could give ya more insight

i hope he chimes in as i dont really like pm'ing someone directly for help. thats just me..

You will be getting a tax form in the mail from your lending institution showing how much interest you paid for the year. It will also tell you how much your property tax was (that too can be written off). Mine didn't amount to much this year because I got the house in late March and didn't start payments until May.

Yes, if you use a software like Turbo Tax, or go to an accountant they will tell you which will be greater, the standard deduction or itemizing and writing off the mortgage interest. As mentioned, if I remember correctly, property taxes are also deducted.

Yes, property taxes are also deductible. If you don't escrow your taxes, that amount won't be printed on your end of year mortgage interest paid statement. If that'* the case, call your local tax assessor and he/she can give you the number. Or, you can go to your local municipality'* website and look it up.

As far as whether or not you should itemize or not depends largely on when you bought your home and home much interest and taxes you paid. If you bought your house in November or December of 2007, then it'* likely that you're better off taking the standard deduction. I'm not sure what the standard deduction for 2007 is for "married filing jointly". Whatever that number is, if it'* less than what you paid in property taxes and mortgage interest, then you're better off itemizing.

Not sure if you pay PMI, but I believe it is now tax deductible too! Definitely worth checking out.

I just started our taxes the other day. I think the standard deduction was something like $12K.

To my knowledge PMI is not an expense that can be written off. You might want to investigate the rules on that.

Google it and see... It'* a change for 2007