Who must file Form 1098
File Form 1098 if you are engaged in a trade or business and, in the course of it, you receive from an individual (including a sole proprietor) $600 or more of mortgage interest on any one mortgage during the calendar year. A mortgage is an obligation secured by real property, including a residence, a condominium, a cooperative unit, a mobile home or a boat with sleeping, cooking and toilet facilities that the borrower uses as a home. Interest received on behalf of another person, such as by a servicer or a collection agent, is reported by the person who receives it; a cooperative housing corporation reports for its tenant-stockholders; a governmental unit that lends against property reports too.
The $600 test applies separately to each mortgage: a borrower who pays you $400 on each of two loans gets no 1098. You may file voluntarily below $600, and if you do, all the rules apply. Refunds of overpaid interest of $600 or more are reported in box 4 even when no current-year interest is due.
Threshold: $600, of interest (including points and, when section 163(h)(3)(E) applies, mortgage insurance premiums) received from an individual on each mortgage; the test is per mortgage, not per borrower.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mortgage interest received from payer/borrower | Interest, including points not separately reportable, received during the year; not late charges or prepayment penalties unless they are interest. |
| 2 | Outstanding mortgage principal | As of January 1 (or the origination date if later). |
| 3 | Mortgage origination date | |
| 4 | Refund of overpaid interest | Refunds or credits of interest overpaid in a prior year. |
| 5 | Mortgage insurance premiums | When section 163(h)(3)(E) applies for the year. |
| 6 | Points paid on purchase of principal residence | Points the borrower paid at closing, reportable when points plus other interest reach $600. |
| 7 and 8 | Property address, or description if no address | Box 7 checkbox when the property address is the borrower's address; box 8 otherwise. |
| 9 | Number of mortgaged properties | If more than one property secures the loan. |
| 10 | Other | Real estate taxes or other information the lender chooses to report. |
| 11 | Mortgage acquisition date | When the recipient acquired the mortgage during the year. |
Box titles follow the current revision of the form. The IRS reads the payer and recipient name, TIN, address, account number and the money boxes; the state boxes are for the state copy only.
Payments that are not reported on Form 1098
- Interest received from a corporation, partnership, trust, estate, association or company (not an individual), even if an individual is a co-borrower or guarantor.
- Interest on obligations that are not mortgages: loans whose proceeds financed the borrower's business, and unsecured loans.
- Interest received by a person not in a trade or business (an individual who carried back a note on a home sale need not file).
- Interest from a nonresident alien unless the security is U.S. real property.
Due dates and extensions
| Copy | Due | For 2026 returns |
|---|---|---|
| To the IRS, paper | February 28 | Monday, March 1, 2027 (February 28 is a Sunday) |
| To the IRS, electronic | March 31 | Wednesday, March 31, 2027 |
| To the recipient | January 31 | Monday, February 1, 2027 (January 31 is a Sunday) |
An automatic 30-day extension is available on Form 8809, filed by the due date on paper or through IRIS; a second 30 days requires a hardship showing. Recipient statements can be extended 30 days on Form 15397, online or by fax only. 10 or more information returns of any type in aggregate must be e-filed (T.D. 9972); IRIS is the only IRS intake system from filing season 2027, FIRE having been retired. A payer who e-files the originals must e-file the corrections.
For 2026 forms filed in 2027: January 31 falls on a Sunday, so that deadline moves to Monday, February 1, 2027; February 28 also falls on a Sunday, so the paper deadline moves to Monday, March 1, 2027. March 31 (electronic) and March 15 are weekdays. February 28 does not become February 29 in a leap year. The compliance calendar has every date with the weekend shifts applied.
Withholding and TIN matching
Mortgage interest received is not a payment to the borrower, so backup withholding does not apply and Form 1098 is outside the IRS TIN Matching program. The borrower's TIN is required on the return (with the box for the borrower's TIN) and the lender must solicit it, generally on the loan application and annually thereafter if missing; an incorrect or missing TIN on a 1098 carries the ordinary IRC 6721 penalty and the ordinary reasonable-cause defense. Mortgage servicing transfers are the usual source of bad names: the acquiring servicer inherits whatever the originator captured.
Name and TIN errors on this form
Every information return is matched by the IRS on the first four characters of the payee's name (the name control) against the TIN. A mismatch produces a CP2100 line the following autumn and, unless the solicitation record is in order, a 972CG penalty the year after: $340 per return for 2026 forms filed in 2027 that are late or wrong, $690 for intentional disregard, with annual maximums of $4,191,500 ($1,397,000 for small filers) under Rev. Proc. 2025-32. The errors that recur on Form 1098:
- Co-borrowers. The 1098 goes to the payer of record, the first-listed borrower on the loan, under that person's SSN; other borrowers may be listed as co-borrowers but only one TIN is on the return.
- Trust-titled homes. If the loan was made to an individual who later deeded the home to a living trust, the borrower is still the individual; if the trust is the borrower, the trust's name and TIN go on the return (a grantor trust may report under the grantor's SSN).
- Name changes over a 30-year loan are the reason lenders re-solicit: the SSA record moves, the loan file does not.
- Sole proprietors are individuals for 1098 purposes; the business name is not the borrower's name.
The name control calculator shows what the IRS will derive from a name line, and the CP2100 guide covers what to do when the notice arrives.
Recipient statements and substitutes
The recipient statement for Form 1098 need not be a copy of the official form: a substitute may be combined with other account statements or reports, provided every required item is numbered and titled as on the official form, the tax year, form number and form name appear together, the recipient instructions are included, and, for the forms Pub 1099 lists, a telephone number with direct access to someone who can answer questions is shown. Publication 1179 (Rev. Proc. 2026-18) has the specifications; logos, slogans and advertising are not permitted on the statement itself. Statements may be furnished electronically only to a recipient who has affirmatively consented in a way that shows they can access the format, after the disclosures in Pub 1099 part M, and must stay posted through October 15. Copy B may show a truncated TIN (xxx-xx-1234); the IRS copy never may.
Corrections and state copies
A wrong amount, code or checkbox is a Type 1 correction: one corrected return with the CORRECTED box checked. A wrong or missing payee TIN, a wrong payee name, or the wrong form type is a Type 2 correction: a zeroed-out copy of the original plus a new original, in that order. Publication 1099 also says you are not required to file a correction for a missing or incorrect TIN if you meet the reasonable-cause standard, only to use the right TIN on the next return, although the IRS encourages the correction. Details and the paper error charts are on the 1099 corrections page.
Form 1098 is not in the Combined Federal/State Filing program, so any state that requires it must receive it directly. Requirements by state are on the state pages.
Questions people ask about Form 1098
The borrower is an LLC with a personal guarantee.
Not reportable: the interest is received from an LLC, not an individual, unless the LLC is disregarded and the loan was made to the owner as an individual.
Do we report a $500 refinance interest amount?
Not required; the $600 test is per mortgage. You may report it voluntarily.
Which copy goes to the borrower and when?
Copy B by January 31 (February 1, 2027 for 2026 forms); it may be furnished electronically with the borrower's consent or as a substitute statement under Pub 1179.
Is 1098 in the Combined Federal/State program?
No.
Other federal forms
1042-S · 1097-BTC · 1098-C · 1098-E · 1098-F · 1098-Q · 1098-T · 1098-VLI · 1099-A · 1099-B · 1099-C · 1099-CAP · 1099-DIV · 1099-G · 1099-INT · 1099-K · 1099-LS · 1099-LTC · 1099-MISC · 1099-NEC · 1099-OID · 1099-PATR · 1099-Q · 1099-QA · 1099-R · 1099-S · 1099-SA · 1099-SB · 3921 · 3922 · 5498 · 5498-ESA · 5498-SA · W-2G · 1099-DA · Comparison table
Sources: IRS Publication 1099 (2026), General Instructions for Certain Information Returns, which replaced the separate General Instructions starting with tax year 2026; Instructions for Form 1098 (Rev. December 2026); Pub 1099 (2026); IRC 6050H; Regulations 1.6050H-1 and -2. Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.