Depending on the loan you take out, you might have to pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI) or mortgage insurance premiums (MIP). If you take out a conventional mortgage loan and don’t put up a down payment of at least 20%, you’ll have to pay PMI, a form of insurance that protects the lender in case you stop making your mortgage payments. MIP is similar, but you’ll have to pay this insurance when you take out a loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration, better known as an FHA loan.
Whether these forms of mortgage insurance are deductible depends largely on the tax year. Congress routinely changes the status of mortgage insurance. For instance, in tax years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, this form of insurance is tax deductible.