2018 Property Tax and January 2018 Mortgage Payments in 2017

My property tax is invoiced in July for payments in July and December, so for the July 2017 - June 2018 fiscal year, I made my regular payments in July and December 2017. I don't have an escrow account - I pay my own property tax and homeowner's insurance.

I won't receive my next property tax invoice until July 2018 for the July

2018 - June 2019 fiscal year. However, I know to the penny the amount I will be billed, assuming the county does not change my property tax rate.

I'm going to call my county on Tuesday and ask if I can prepay my July

2018 - June 2019 property tax by December 31, 2017 if I identify my payment for the July 2018 - June 2019 fiscal year.

I also plan to prepay my January 1, 2018 mortgage payment by December 31,

2017 to have a 13th monthly mortage interest payment in 2017.

This way I can deduct the additional property tax and mortgage interest at my higher marginal 2017 tax rate.

I will also get a refund on my state income return but have them apply it toward my 2018 income tax withholding.

My 2018 state/local/property tax deduction will then be $10,000 based only on my state/local tax withheld, still less than my state/local tax. I'll owe the state the additional income tax on the lower state deduction not having any property tax to pay, but the 2017 refund cancels this out. In

2018, I'll owe the federal income tax on the 2017 state tax refund, pretty small.

I'll continue to pay my January mortgage payment in late December each year from here on out.

The way I see it, I'm ahead by the 2017 marginal federal tax rate on the

2018 property tax and January 2018 mortgage interest deductions, minus the small additional tax on the 2017 state tax refund.

Comments?

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis
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For the fiscal year starting July 1, 2018, there is no overlap with calendar year ending December 31, 2017. Therefore, you're SOL.

Reply to
D. Stussy

It's possible that your prepaid property taxes would not be deductible. There is a regulation that suggests unbilled taxes are not deductible. You should file a 8275 or 8275-R disclosing your position.

-- Arthur Rubin, AFSP, CRTP Brea, CA

Reply to
Arthur Rubin

"As Washington wages an all-out assault on this state and this nation, ..."

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Here's the text of the executive order (PDF):

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O_172.pdf

Unspecified is what taxpayers are to do if collection officers are taking off the week between Christmas and New Year's.

Reply to
Stan Brown

I was under the impression that if you mail them, the postmark is considered the date you pay it.

All the towns around here (including Stan's) have a drop box at the town hall where you can leave your payments. No idea how the IRS would establish dates for those.

Regards, John Levine, snipped-for-privacy@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail.

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Reply to
John Levine

You obviously didn't read the actual Executive Order. Payments must be made in person by 12/29, online (where available) by 12/31 or postmarked by 12/31.

Ira Smilovitz, EA

Reply to
ira smilovitz

Assuming the warrants are issued. And how is that to be done if the staff is off on holiday? Or if they simply cannot or will not?

Still, it is better than nothing.

Reply to
Taxed and Spent

NY towns have always had taxes due on Jan 31 with the bills mailed the last week in December. If you're in a hurry, the bills are all on the town or county web site.

R's, John

Reply to
John Levine

My County Tax warrant was issued 12/22/17 and is on line. So if I mail it in today, it is a 2017 expense.

My School Tax warrant won't be issued until September. If I pay it now, it is still a 2018 expense and the IRS is unlikely to let me take it in 2017. Would they notice it was twice as high as usual and ask me to defend it?

Do I have it right?

Reply to
Frustrated

Correct. You can pay your county tax now, but your 2018 school tax cannot be prepaid. Whether the IRS will or will not catch an illegal excess RE tax deduction is anyone's guess. It wouldn't be all that difficult to program a filter to screen all tax returns with RE tax deductions which are filed in specific states and compare them to the prior year. There are already a number of consistency checks which compare tax returns over multiple years to help identify potential identity theft. (Source: IRS presenter at a professional seminar on identity theft and data security.)

Credentialled tax professionals cannot advise you to play the audit lottery. You do so at your own peril.

Ira Smilovitz, EA

Reply to
ira smilovitz

Well, it's a nice theory, John. The "tax bills" link on Lansing town's web site just leads to general information. The Tompkins County page links to

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which gives year-old information, i.e. the 2017 tax bills. The town clerk's office doesn't answer the phone, and a message I left two days ago has gone unanswered. Ira didn't understand my point, but "Taxed & Spent" did -- if the twon officials won't provide the information, it seems we're blocked from taking advantage of the governor's execuitive order.

Reply to
Stan Brown

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