Updated October 17, 2026. Quick answer: Box 10 of Form 1098 is labelled Other. The borrower copy says the interest recipient may use it to give you other information, such as real estate taxes or insurance paid from escrow. Because the lender chooses what to put there, it is a note from the lender and not a statement of your whole property tax bill.
Schedule A and Schedule B (Form 1040) for 2025, read line by line: Schedule A line 5a, Schedule A lines 5d and 5e and Schedule A lines 6 and 7.
What box 10 says
On the form the box is simply labelled Other. The borrower copy explains it: “The interest recipient may use this box to give you other information, such as real estate taxes or insurance paid from escrow.”
The word “may” matters. The lender is not told to fill the box. This page covers box 10 only. The rest of the statement is in the Form 1098 boxes guide and the overview is the Form 1098 overview. The mortgage insurance premiums that have their own box are on the box 5 page.
What the lender is told to put there
The instructions to the lender are similarly open: “Enter any other item you wish to report to the payer, such as real estate taxes, insurance paid from escrow, or, if you are a collection agent, the name of the person for whom you collected the interest.” The phrase “any other item you wish” is the operative one.
There is another use. In the part of the instructions about interest paid by a seller, the lender is told: “However, if you wish, you may use box 10 to report to the payer of record any interest paid by the seller.” So the same box can carry a real estate tax figure on one statement, an insurance figure on another, a seller-interest figure on a third, and nothing at all on a fourth.
Box 10 is optional and not a total of your tax bill
Read the box 10 text for what it gives: examples, offered at the lender’s choice. The form frames real estate taxes and escrow-paid insurance as samples of the “other information” a lender may include. An amount in box 10 is therefore the lender’s note, and if you want to know what was paid toward your property tax for the year, compare it with your own tax bills and your escrow statement.
One way to see how this box differs from the others is the form’s own warning on the borrower copy: “The information in boxes 1 through 9 and 11 is important tax information and is being furnished to the IRS.” Box 10 is not in that list.
Where real estate taxes are deducted
This page explains the box, not the deduction. Real estate taxes are an itemized-deduction matter, and the line-by-line placement is on the Schedule A page. If a cap on state and local taxes affects your return, that is covered on the SALT cap page. Treat a box 10 amount as a cross-check against the documents that actually show what was paid.
Because box 10 can show insurance paid from escrow too, an amount in it may include items that are not real estate taxes at all. The form’s own wording, “such as real estate taxes or insurance paid from escrow”, puts both in the same box.
The neighbouring boxes
Box 10 sits next to the boxes that do have fixed meanings. Interest is in box 1, principal in box 2, and any interest refund in box 4. The address and property count boxes are on the boxes 7, 8 and 9 page.
Edition and box numbers
The primary read for this page is Form 1098 (Rev. April 2025), including its Instructions for Payer/Borrower on the borrower copy, together with the Instructions for Form 1098 (Rev. April 2025) and Publication 936 for 2025 returns. The Instructions for Form 1098 (Rev. December 2026) were the current instructions irs.gov served on 2026-10-17 and were compared line by line. The form copy served that day still reads “Form 1098 (Rev. 4-2025)”. Box 10 is box 10 on both editions. The box 10 instruction in the April 2025 and December 2026 instructions reads the same: “Enter any other item you wish to report to the payer”. The borrower copy is unchanged between the two. Check the revision and the calendar year printed on the statement you received.
Common mistakes
- Treating box 10 as a required figure. The form says the recipient “may use this box to give you other information”.
- Assuming box 10 equals your property tax bill. The instructions call it “any other item you wish to report to the payer”, with real estate taxes only one example.
- Overlooking that box 10 is outside the list sent to the IRS. The form lists “boxes 1 through 9 and 11” as the information being furnished to the IRS.
Related: Form 1098 overview, Schedule A (Form 1040), SALT cap 2026, and property tax relief for seniors.
Sources
- Form 1098 (Rev. 4-2025) with Instructions for Payer/Borrower: IRS archived PDF (irs.gov)
- Form 1098 as served by irs.gov on 2026-10-17, with Instructions for Payer/Borrower: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1098.pdf
- Instructions for Form 1098 (Rev. April 2025): IRS archived PDF (irs.gov)
- Instructions for Form 1098 (Rev. December 2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1098.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 17, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.