Where Do Real Estate Taxes Appear on Form 1098?

Real estate taxes on Form 1098 are typically reported in Box 10, labeled “Other,” where your mortgage lender lists the property taxes it paid from your escrow account during the year. That figure is a starting point for your deduction, not a final answer: it may bundle in non-deductible charges, may not match your tax bill because of escrow timing, and only helps you if you itemize on Schedule A.

Finding the Number on Your 1098

Box 1 gets the attention because that’s where mortgage interest goes. Property taxes and homeowners insurance paid out of escrow show up separately, and lenders “typically” use Box 10 for them.¹

Box 10 is not a mandatory reporting field the way Box 1 is, and its label is generic. Some lenders break the property tax amount out cleanly. Others combine it with insurance or move the detail to a supplemental statement mailed with the 1098. If you can’t find a recognizable property tax figure on the form or an attached page, call your mortgage servicer and ask for the total real estate taxes disbursed from escrow during the calendar year.

Why the 1098 Figure May Not Match Your Tax Bill

The deduction is cash-basis. You deduct what the lender actually sent to the taxing authority during the calendar year, not the amount assessed on your bill and not the amount collected into escrow.²

Those numbers can drift apart. If your escrow ran short, the lender may have paid only part of an installment before year-end and covered the rest in January. If there was a surplus, a December payment may have covered taxes technically due the following year. Either way, the deductible amount is what left escrow for the taxing authority between January 1 and December 31.

The same rule applies when you pay the county directly and receive no 1098 at all. You deduct the payments you made during the year, and your receipts, canceled checks, or online confirmations are the documentation.²

What on the Bill Actually Qualifies

The IRS test for a deductible real estate tax has three parts: it must be based on the assessed value of the property, levied uniformly across the community, and used for general government purposes. Flat fees and charges for specific services fail that test, even when they appear on the same bill.³

Charges that look like taxes but don’t qualify:

Service fees such as trash collection, sewer service, or water metered by usage.
Local benefit assessments for building streets, sidewalks, or water and sewer systems. These add to your cost basis instead of getting deducted.
Transfer taxes or stamp duties paid when buying or selling. Buyers add these to basis; sellers treat them as a selling expense.
HOA dues and assessments, because they come from a private association rather than a government.

One exception on local benefit assessments: if the taxing authority separately itemizes a portion for maintenance, repair, or interest on the improvement, that portion is deductible. It has to be broken out on the bill.²

Pull out your actual tax bill and compare it to the 1098. If the escrow disbursement covered non-deductible charges, subtract them before you write anything on Schedule A.

Claiming the Deduction on Schedule A

Real estate taxes are an itemized deduction, so they only help if your total itemized deductions beat your standard deduction. For 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household.⁴

If itemizing wins, the deductible property tax number goes on Schedule A, Line 5b, which is designated for state and local real estate taxes.⁵ Line 5b combines with state income or sales tax (5a) and personal property taxes (5c), and the total on 5d is then compared to the SALT cap on 5e.

The SALT Cap

Line 5b doesn’t stand alone. Property taxes share a single cap with your other state and local taxes. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, effective for the 2025 tax year, the cap rose from $10,000 to $40,000 for most filers, and $20,000 for married filing separately.⁶

The higher cap phases down at higher incomes. If your modified adjusted gross income exceeds $500,000 ($250,000 married filing separately), the cap is reduced by 30 percent of the amount over that threshold. It cannot drop below $10,000 ($5,000 married filing separately), so even high earners keep at least the old deduction amount.⁶ The cap and the threshold are indexed for inflation through 2029.

On Schedule A, Line 5e is where the cap bites: you enter the smaller of your total from Line 5d or the applicable cap.⁵

Second Homes Count Too

Property taxes on a vacation home or second property follow the same rules and go on the same Line 5b.³ Both properties’ taxes count together toward the SALT cap, so a second home’s taxes may not produce extra deduction if you’re already at the ceiling from your primary residence and state income taxes.

Records to Keep

Treat the 1098 as one document among several. Cross-check it against the annual escrow analysis statement your lender is required to send and against the actual bills from the county or municipality. Discrepancies show up more often after a reassessment, an escrow adjustment, or a payment that straddles year-end.

Keep the supporting records until the period of limitations closes, generally three years from the date you filed.² That means 1098s, escrow analyses, tax bills, and payment confirmations. If you pay the taxing authority directly, those records are the only proof you have.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1098
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 530 – Tax Information for Homeowners
3
Internal Revenue Service. Real Estate Taxes, Mortgage Interest, Points, Other Property Expenses
4
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
5
Internal Revenue Service. Schedule A (Form 1040) – Itemized Deductions
6
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Schedule A (Form 1040)