Are you a homeowner? Here are some of the tax deductions you might qualify for this tax season.
As homeowners across the U.S. prepare to file their taxes this season, they may be wondering what deductions they qualify for and whether it's worth itemizing or sticking with the standard deduction.
As in every tax season, a filer's situation will hinge on multiple factors.
"Everyone's situation is different," said Kate Wood, a lending expert from NerdWallet. "It's hard to say kind of how everything is going to stack up for most homeowners, because so much will depend on your income and then also where you live."
Still, it can pay — quite literally — to be prepared.
The deductions available to homeowners are fairly consistent with years past, with a few changes following last year's passage of the Republicans' new tax and spending law.
The IRS will start accepting tax returns on Jan. 26.
What deductions can I claim as a homeowner?
The mortgage interest deduction remains one of the chief tax breaks for homeowners.
However, fewer people have claimed this since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which nearly doubled the size of the standard deduction, Wood said. Still, it remains an option for taxpayers who itemize — meaning they add up eligible expenses such as mortgage interest, state and local taxes and charitable donations, and claim them only if the combined total exceeds the standard deduction.
The standard deduction for 2025 is $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married couples filing jointly.
Filers can deduct up to $750,000 of mortgage debt, or up to $375,000 for married people who file separately, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
Other common deductions for homeowners, according to NerdWallet, include:
- Home equity loan and home equity line of credit (HELOC) interest. Filers can only take this deduction if the money was spent on qualifying home improvements. "Say you took out a home equity loan because you were trying to consolidate other debt, or something like that," Wood said. "In that case, the interest would not be deductible."
- Home office expenses. People who are self-employed and who work from home can write off expenses they paid related to their business, including rent, utilities and real estate taxes. If you're a full-time employee who works from home but receives a W-2, you are not eligible for this deduction, according to NerdWallet.
- Medically necessary home improvements. Homeowners can deduct the cost of installing health care equipment or making other medically-necessary adaptations in their homes such as constructing entrance ramps to help someone in a wheelchair.
What's new this year?
There are two main changes this year for homeowners stemming from the "big, beautiful bill" act that President Trump signed into law last year.
The first is the expansion of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. The "big, beautiful bill" Act raises the cap from $10,000 to $40,000, allowing taxpayers to deduct up to $40,000 in combined property taxes and either state and local income taxes or sales taxes.
Single filers can now deduct up to to $40,000, while married couples can deduct up to $20,000 each if they are filing separately. The deduction phases out for people with adjusted gross incomes over $500,000.
The degree to which any given filer will benefit from the higher SALT cap will depend on where they live, the type of property they own and the amount they pay in property taxes, Wood said.
"If you're someone who has a large, high-interest-rate mortgage, and you're living in a high property tax area, you could potentially get a significant boost from itemizing," she said. "But if you're someone who's paying low interest, has a modest mortgage, is in a lower tax location, the standard deduction might be just fine for you."
The second major change homeowners should be aware of is the elimination of energy-focused home improvement tax credits, which were phased out at the end of 2025 under the "big, beautiful bill." The credits were intended to help taxpayers offset the cost of clean-energy upgrades, such as installing solar panels or improving insulation.
To qualify for the credits this tax season, homeowners must have completed their energy upgrades in 2025, Wood said. "Not just that you purchased the items, but that the work was completed by Dec. 31, 2025," she said.