I have two questions:

First question: It's looking like we made enough large purchases last year to claim sales tax paid. We bought a new car in 2016 and later in the year it was flooded and declared a total loss. The insurance claim paid to us included sales tax for the adjuster's estimate. Can I still claim these sales taxes when filing my return? To be clear, I'm not reporting it as a loss since the guidance there is clear on insurance reimbursements.

Second question: We purchased a house in 2015 and the lender that brokered the mortgage quickly sold it to another lender. I didn't notice until past the filing deadline that we paid mortgage interest to the original lender that I did not claim and I finally found the tax form for it. Can I simply put this into my 2016 return?

Thanks!