How tax preparers request a mortgage statement from clients
By Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak · Published
In short
Ask clients with a home loan for the December mortgage statement when Form 1098 is missing, or for each servicer’s final statement when the loan was sold or refinanced during the year. Each servicer reports only the interest it collected, so you need one statement per servicer, showing interest paid year-to-date and the property taxes paid from escrow.
Why tax preparers need a mortgage statement
Mortgage interest and real estate taxes go on Schedule A when the client itemizes, and the 1098 is the usual source. When it never arrives, or the loan changed hands mid-year, the December statement is the fallback: it shows interest paid year-to-date, and the escrow section shows the property taxes the servicer paid to the county for the client. A loan sold in June means two servicers and two partial totals, and the first one is easy to miss.
What exactly to ask for
The last statement of the tax year (December, or the final statement before a payoff) from every servicer that held the loan, plus the closing disclosure if the client refinanced, since points and prepaid interest appear there. Ask for every page: the year-to-date interest and the escrow disbursements are often on page two.
What to check when it arrives
- The year-to-date interest line covers the whole tax year, not only the months since the last payment.
- One statement per servicer when the loan was sold or refinanced, with the payoff statement of the old loan.
- Escrow disbursements for property tax are listed with dates, so you count only taxes paid within the year.
Email to send your client
Replace the bracketed parts. The same text fits in the message of a DokuTrak request (up to 1,000 characters).
Subject: Your mortgage statements for this year’s return
Hi [Client name],
For your mortgage interest deduction I usually work from Form 1098. If yours has not arrived, the December mortgage statement does the job, as long as it shows the interest paid for the year.
If your loan was sold to a new servicer or you refinanced this year, please send the last statement from each company, plus the closing disclosure for the refinance. Every page, please: the yearly totals and the escrow section are often on the back.
Could you send them by [date]? If you are not sure which companies serviced your loan this year, tell me and we will work it out together.
Thanks, [Your name]
Ask once. DokuTrak does the chasing.
- Your client uploads from one link, with no account and no password.
- Reminders go out on a schedule, by default 2, 5, 10 and 14 days after the request, until the file arrives.
- With AI review switched on in your workspace (it is off by default), each upload gets a first pass that flags a file that is not a mortgage statement or an unreadable or blurry scan. It says so when it is not sure.
- You accept every file or mark it for re-upload, and your client gets the note by email. The AI never accepts a file.