What do I enter for the average balance of my mortgage?

There are several methods to calculate the average balance of your mortgage. If you don't have a mixed-use mortgage, the FreeTaxUSA software uses the average of first and last balance method to calculate your average mortgage balance for you. This method takes your mortgage balance as of the first day of the year that the mortgage was secured by your qualified home during the year (usually January 1) and adds that to your mortgage balance as of the last day of the year that the mortgage was secured by your qualified home (usually December 31) and divides that by 2 to get your average mortgage balance. If ALL the following applies to you, you can use the amounts we calculated:

• You didn't borrow any new amounts on the mortgage during 2025 (this doesn't include starting a mortgage during 2025).
• You didn't prepay more than 1 month's principal during 2025 (this includes prepayment by refinancing your home or applying proceeds from its sale).
• You had to make level payments at fixed equal intervals on at least a semi-annual basis. You treat your payments as level even if they were adjusted from time to time because of changes in the interest rate.

If one or more of the above doesn't apply to you, you'll need to figure out your average balance using another method and change the amounts entered on this screen.

Methods to Calculate Average Mortgage Balance:

• Average of first and last balance
• Interest paid divided by interest rate
• Statements provided by your lender

If you have a mixed-use mortgage or want to use one of these other methods to calculate your average mortgage balance, see the section titled Average Mortgage Balance in Publication 936  for more information.