I’m betting this is going to snag quite a few people:
We all know that the fun of the past few years Housing binge / ATM withdrawal / GDP Party is long since over. But it turns out that the hangover isn’t nearly done.
Why is that? Well, one of the advantages of Home Equity financing is that if you use the proceeds for capital improvements to the home — *new floors, walls or lighting, installing central A/C, removing trees, refurbishing bathrooms, new lawns or gardens — then it has the same tax deductiblity as if it were a primary mortgage.
What abut if you use the proceeds for other, non-capital improvement purposes?
From Realty blog Patrick.Net:
“Word from the IRS is that they are auditing people based on refiances on their house. If you refied and pulled money out of the house and use for other purposes than home improvement you can not claim that as Mortgage Deduction, needs to be claimed as Interest expense. Guess what, they want proof of home improvements…”
Of course, it’s always easier to audit some poor schmuck than to track down corporate accounts in the Cayman Islands…
