Mortgage interest deduction what am I missing

Yeah, if you're married, and get the 12,600 deduction, it won't help you. Found that out the hard way this year.

When I was filing single, and getting the 6,300, claiming mortgage interest was money! It was $7,000+ some years.

ETA: If you're itemizing more than just M.I., it's beneficial. But in order for itemization to help at all, it's gotta be over 12,600. Someone correct if I'm wrong, please.

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what am I missing

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More deductions or a bigger housenote

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I would link you to the thread where I countered people citing the deduction as a reason to buy over renting, but I'm on my phone and it's simply not worth the effort

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Renting is absolutely the way for younger folks, single folks and those with no children. The tax benefits do not accrue until you have developed a sophisticated and robust package of deductions you can bundle with HMID - now the mortgage can be the foundation for folks who are self employed to get the tax benefits of other things - in particular if you own a lot of investment real estate, generally, it can make sense.

But purely from a housing standpoint, a lot of folks are buying and not getting this deduction.

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So really even if you have 13k mortgage deduction it really should only be looked at as a $400 because you would get 12.6 for just living. Am I wrong in my thinking here?

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In insolation, you can think of every deduction that way - you want to look at deductions in the aggregate. Now, I'm not in favor of seeking out deductions, because those are normally at a net cost. But, if you are engaging in activity that results in tax deductions, more power to you. Credits on the other hand, generally afford the most benefit and might be worth seeking out in certain circumstances.

However, to your point - if your ONLY deduction is a $13k mortgage interest, your analysis is correct that you are only yielding a $400 deduction because if you rented (or owned outright) you would get the $12,600.

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everyone talks about how they can write off mortgage on taxes. I'm married with no kids and don't have many other deductions. We never get close to the standard 12k deduction.What am I missing?

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You got your property tax in there?

If you bought your house since 2008 and you don't have a huge house... unless you pay a ton of taxes or you give away a lot of money... you won't get much benefit at all of the interest deduction.

Chaps my rear every time one of the loser real estate agents goes on and on about how an interest deduction is why you should buy.

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You got your property tax in there?

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If you live in EBRP not this year. Killed me on my tax return this year not being able to claim property tax. But for your 2017 tax return you get to claim two years of property tax so I guess it all evens out.

I did.

Property taxes+PMI+mortgage interest+ lots of other things to itemize doesn't get you over $12600?