Federal Form 1098 - Mortgage Interest Statement Instructions

General Instructions for Form 1098

Instructions for Payer/Borrower

A person (including a financial institution, a governmental unit, and a cooperative housing corporation) who is engaged in a trade or business and, in the course of such trade or business, received from you at least $600 of mortgage interest (including certain points) on any one mortgage in the calendar year must furnish this statement to you.

If you received this statement as the payer of record on a mortgage on which there are other borrowers, furnish each of the other borrowers with information about the proper distribution of amounts reported on this form. Each borrower is entitled to deduct only the amount he or she paid and points paid by the seller that represent his or her share of the amount allowable as a deduction. Each borrower may have to include in income a share of any amount reported in box 3.

If your mortgage payments were subsidized by a government agency, you may not be able to deduct the amount of the subsidy. See the instructions for Form 1040, Schedule A, C, or E for how to report the mortgage interest. Also, for more information, see Pub. 936, Home Mortgage Interest Deduction, and Pub. 535, Business Expenses.

Account number. May show an account or other unique number the lender has assigned to distinguish your account.

Box 1. Shows the mortgage interest received during the year. This amount includes interest on any obligation secured by real property, including a home equity, line of credit, or credit card loan. This amount does not include points, government subsidy payments, or seller payments on a “buy-down” mortgage. Such amounts are deductible by you only in certain circumstances. Caution: If you prepaid interest in 2009 that accrued in full by January 15, 2010, this prepaid interest may be included in box 1. However, you cannot deduct the prepaid amount in 2009 even though it may be included in box 1. If you hold a mortgage credit certificate and can claim the mortgage interest credit, see Form 8396, Mortgage Interest Credit. If the interest was paid on a mortgage, home equity, line of credit, or credit card loan secured by your personal residence, you may be subject to a deduction limitation.

Box 2. Not all points are reportable to you. Box 2 shows points you or the seller paid this year for the purchase of your principal residence that are required to be reported to you. Generally, these points are fully deductible in the year paid, but you must subtract seller-paid points from the basis of your residence. Other points not reported in box 2 may also be deductible. See Pub. 936 to figure the amount you can deduct.

Box 3. Do not deduct this amount. It is a refund (or credit) for overpayment(s) of interest you made in a prior year or years. If you itemized deductions in the year(s) you paid the interest, you may have to include part or all of the box 3 amount on the “Other income” line of your 2009 Form 1040. No adjustment to your prior year(s) tax return(s) is necessary. For more information, see Pub. 936 and Itemized Deduction Recoveries in Pub. 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income.

Box 4. Shows mortgage insurance premiums which may qualify to be treated as deductible mortgage interest. See the Schedule A (Form 1040) instructions.

Box 5. The interest recipient may use this box to give you other information, such as the address of the property that secures the debt, real estate taxes, or insurance paid from escrow.

Instructions for Recipients/Lenders

General and specific form instructions are provided as separate products. The products you should use to complete Form 1098 are the 2009 General Instructions
for Forms 1099, 1098, 3921, 3922, 5498, and W-2G and the 2009 Instructions for Form 1098. A chart in the general instructions gives a quick guide to which form must be filed to report a particular payment. To order these instructions and additional forms, visit the IRS website at www.irs.gov or call 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676).

Caution: Because paper forms are scanned during processing, you cannot file Forms 1096, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, or 5498 that you print from the IRS
website.

Due dates. Furnish Copy B of this form to the payer by February 1, 2010.

File Copy A of this form with the IRS by March 1, 2010. If you file electronically, the due date is March 31, 2010. To file electronically, you must have software that generates a file according to the specifications in Pub. 1220, Specifications for Filing Forms 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, 5498, and W-2G Electronically. IRS does not provide a fill-in form option.

Need help? If you have questions about reporting on Form 1098, call the information reporting customer service site toll free at 1-866-455-7438 or 304-263-8700 (not toll free). For TTY/TDD equipment, call 304-267-3367 (not toll free).