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‘Can I deduct mortgage interest on a second home?’ is a question a lot of taxpayers have at the time the file there income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Most people just have a primary home, but some of the other taxpayers are fortunate enough to have a second home. The home must qualify under the rules written by the IRS before you will be allowed to claim any deductions associated with the home on your personal income tax return. Let’s start with finding out what qualifies the second home for deductions.

You can deduct mortgage interest on a second home even if you do not have a tenant for the entire tax year. You do not have to use the home during the non-rental period in order to claim the deductible the IRS allows. If you do let the house, you must use the home for a portion of the time in order to claim the deduction on your personal return. You must use the house the greater amount of time of 14 days or 10% of the rentals days. There are limits to the amount you can take off your tax return, as well. Your total mortgage debt cannot exceed more than one million if you want to claim the full amount of the interest deduction that you can. This limit is imposed on all filing status categories except the one that is for filers using the married filing jointly status. In that case you can claim only the part of interest that does not exceed $500,000 total mortgage.

You can claim mortgage interest on your second home if you itemize the deductions when you file your personal income tax return. You will have to qualify to use Schedule A to do so. The interest deduction for the first and second home is listed on line 10 of Schedule A. The total deductions you are authorized will go on line 29, Schedule A and also on line 40 of IRS Form 1040. This total will reduce the taxable income by the total amount of the deductions that you are allowed.

If you decide the change the primary residence to the secondary residence and call the second residence your new primary home, then you will need to meet the rules of the IRS to file the deduction. You can sell a home and change residences; you can buy and sell the secondary home; or you can just switch residences. At any rate, ‘Can I deduct mortgage interest on a second home?’ will be answered yes, if the home that you are calling your second home is qualified under the rules of the IRS.