Form 1098-MA, Mortgage Assistance Payments, is an informational tax document. In most cases, you do not enter Form 1098-MA directly on your federal tax return, and you should not report mortgage assistance payments as taxable income.
What Is Form 1098-MA Used For?
Form 1098-MA is issued when a state Housing Finance Agency (HFA) provides mortgage assistance to a homeowner through a mortgage assistance program.
The form helps distinguish between:
- Mortgage payments made on your behalf by a state assistance program
- Mortgage payments you paid yourself
What Do the Boxes on Form 1098-MA Mean?
Box 1: Total Mortgage Payments
- State HFA mortgage assistance payments, and
- Mortgage payments made by the homeowner
Box 2: Mortgage Assistance Payments
Box 2 shows the amount paid by the state Housing Finance Agency on your behalf.
These payments are generally not taxable income and are not reported as income on your tax return.
Box 3: Homeowner Payments
Box 3 shows the amount of mortgage payments that you personally paid to the state Housing Finance Agency.
These amounts can help determine the portion of mortgage interest that may be eligible for deduction if you itemize deductions.
Can I Deduct Mortgage Interest Reported on Form 1098-MA?
Maybe, but only for the portion of mortgage interest attributable to payments you actually made.
If a state assistance program made part of your mortgage payments for you, you generally cannot claim a mortgage interest deduction for the interest associated with those assistance payments.
When preparing your return:
- Review Form 1098-MA alongside your Form 1098 Mortgage Interest Statement.
- Determine how much mortgage interest relates to payments you personally made.
- Claim only the deductible mortgage interest that you're entitled to based on your own payments.
Do I Enter Form 1098-MA in the Program?
No. Form 1098-MA is not entered directly into the program as a separate tax form.
However, you should keep it with your tax records and use it when determining the correct amount of mortgage interest to claim if you're itemizing deductions.