Chicago526
<font color=red>Any dream will do...<br><font colo
- Joined
- May 6, 2003
- Messages
- 11,024
Ack! I was just ready to mail off the taxes, good thing I didn't!
I bought a house in Aug. '05. I paid the original mortgage company (they sold the loan two weeks later) $142 in pre-paid interest and $180 in points. Since it was under the $600 required to get form 1098 (or whatever form it is) and I didn't get anything from them last week, I went ahead with the numbers I had on my closing documents ($142 and $180). I just hadn't gotten around to mailing the returns yet.
Low and behold, guess what I got in the mail yesterday? The 1098 from the original mortgage company. But here's the problem. In the box that says "mortgage interest" it say $142 just like it should. But in the "points" box it says $1,180. I double checked my closing paperwork, and under points it DOES say $180 and that is the amount of points I agreed to when I took out the loan. So I'm positive that the lower number is correct.
So, do I report what is on the closing statement or the 1098? I know the moral answer is to decuct what I paid, which is $180, and that's what I want to do. I hessitate because the mortgage company reports to the IRS what is on the 1098 and I don't know if that if I report a differant number, that it will trigger an audit or cause other problems. I figure that deducting a lower amount would never be an issue, but I'm just not sure what to do.
Has something like this happened to you, and what did you do about it?
I bought a house in Aug. '05. I paid the original mortgage company (they sold the loan two weeks later) $142 in pre-paid interest and $180 in points. Since it was under the $600 required to get form 1098 (or whatever form it is) and I didn't get anything from them last week, I went ahead with the numbers I had on my closing documents ($142 and $180). I just hadn't gotten around to mailing the returns yet.
Low and behold, guess what I got in the mail yesterday? The 1098 from the original mortgage company. But here's the problem. In the box that says "mortgage interest" it say $142 just like it should. But in the "points" box it says $1,180. I double checked my closing paperwork, and under points it DOES say $180 and that is the amount of points I agreed to when I took out the loan. So I'm positive that the lower number is correct.
So, do I report what is on the closing statement or the 1098? I know the moral answer is to decuct what I paid, which is $180, and that's what I want to do. I hessitate because the mortgage company reports to the IRS what is on the 1098 and I don't know if that if I report a differant number, that it will trigger an audit or cause other problems. I figure that deducting a lower amount would never be an issue, but I'm just not sure what to do.
Has something like this happened to you, and what did you do about it?
