Is homeowners insurance deductible?

What the publication says

Publication 530 opens its deductions discussion by explaining that your real estate taxes and home mortgage interest are generally included in your house payment, and that a house payment may include several costs of owning a home. The only costs you can deduct are state and local real estate taxes actually paid to the taxing authority and interest that qualifies as home mortgage interest. It then lists nondeductible expenses that may be part of the payment: fire or homeowner’s insurance premiums, mortgage insurance premiums, and the amount applied to reduce the principal of the mortgage.

A second list, of nondeductible payments, repeats the point and widens it: insurance, including fire and comprehensive coverage, and title insurance; wages you pay for domestic help; depreciation; the cost of utilities such as gas, electricity or water; most settlement costs; forfeited deposits, down payments or earnest money; internet or wifi service; homeowners association, condominium association fees or common charges; and repairs to the home.

Why escrow makes this confusing

If your lender collects taxes and insurance in escrow, your monthly payment is a bundle: principal and interest, a tax amount and an insurance amount, and sometimes mortgage insurance. Only some of those bundled dollars are deductible. Real estate taxes count when the lender pays them to the taxing authority, not when you put money into escrow, and the publication advises that you can deduct only what the lender actually paid out. Homeowners insurance does not become deductible because a servicer handles it. The year-end mortgage interest statement and the real estate tax bill tell you which amounts to use.

Mortgage insurance premiums

Mortgage insurance premiums (PMI or its FHA and VA equivalents) are a separate cost from homeowners insurance, and Publication 530 treats them as nondeductible house-payment costs as well. In its discussion of the Homeowner Assistance Fund the publication adds that, although a Revenue Procedure allows an optional method for certain homeowners, you cannot deduct any home mortgage insurance premiums you paid after 2021. If you are looking for a way to avoid paying PMI, that is a loan question rather than a tax one; see the PMI removal planner.

Title insurance and fire insurance at closing

At closing the same logic applies. Fire insurance premiums are a settlement cost you cannot deduct or add to basis. Owner’s title insurance is not deductible, but the publication lists it among the costs you can include in the original basis of your home; the lender’s required policy is a loan charge. If you built a home, title and legal costs follow the construction cost rules. Our closing costs page sorts the full list.

What about a home office or rental?

Publication 530 is written for owners who use the home as a residence. It cross-refers to Publication 587 for business use of the home and Publication 527 for residential rental property,. This page does not read or summarize those rules. The point for a personal residence is unchanged: insurance on the home you live in is a personal expense. If part of the property is used for business or rental, ask a tax professional how to allocate premiums and read the publications referenced.

Worked example with invented numbers

Over a year you pay $5,400 of real estate taxes to the county (through escrow), $14,000 of mortgage interest, $1,800 of homeowners insurance, $900 of mortgage insurance, and $6,000 of principal. The total of $28,100 breaks into $19,400 of deduction-type costs (taxes and interest) and $8,700 that is insurance and principal. The $19,400 is deductible only if you itemize, and the taxes are subject to the overall limit on state and local taxes ($40,000 for 2025, $20,000 if married filing separately, under Publication 530), while the interest has its own limits in Publication 936. Nothing in the insurance or principal lines can be deducted. The calculator above sorts the same categories.

Where insurance does help you

Insurance can show up elsewhere in the tax picture, in a way that matters more than the premium. Insurance or other reimbursement for casualty losses decreases the basis of your home, and a deductible casualty loss not covered by insurance does too, according to Table 3 in the publication. Keep the claim paperwork. For more on how basis moves, read what the cost basis of a home is, and for taxes in your payment see are real estate taxes deductible.

Sources

• IRS Publication 530, Tax Information for Homeowners (2025): the “What You Can and Can’t Deduct” section, the “Settlement or closing costs” entry and Table 3. Read November 2, 2026.

Edition read: Publication 530 (2025), for use in preparing 2025 returns. Dollar limits, credits and rates in the publication are for 2025 and can change; check the current publication and the Schedule A instructions for your tax year. This page summarizes the publications and does not replace them. Marked for human review.