Tax literacy
Not a filing form
Take-home versus PITI
Line up principal, interest, taxes, and insurance against the money that actually hits your account. This is a cash-flow stress picture, not a refund forecast.
Educational illustration for tax year 2025 — verify current IRS publications before use. This is a labeled assumption, not an official current-law rate table.
Required inputs
- Monthly principal, interest, taxes, and insurance
- Monthly net take-home, or annual net take-home (divided by 12)
Optional: monthly PMI, monthly HOA, other debt payments. Field names match the site’s existing PITI vocabulary.
Teaching formula
PITI = monthly principal + interest + taxes + insurance. PITI+ adds optional PMI and HOA. Residual = take-home − PITI+ − other debts. Ratio = PITI ÷ monthly take-home. If you enter annual take-home only, monthly take-home = annual ÷ 12.
Assumptions
- Lenders use different ratios than this cash-flow picture.
- Tax withholding is not modeled here.
- For a payment built from price, rate, and term, use the mortgage calculator first, then type those monthly pieces here.