Question about property taxes

Well, it sounds like you're "skewed" a little on the calendar. If you bought the home in August of 2004, any tax payments made at settlement should have applied to the '04 tax year. You would have to consult your settlement documents to verify that. Since you bought the house in the middle of the year, interest payments may not have been sufficient to justify itemization. You also should have received a 1098 from your lender, assuming you have one. As for 2005 property taxes, they can be itemized on Schedule A, as one of the permitted deductions _in lieu of_ the standard deduction. You should go with whatever works best (i.e., gives you the larger deduction). Bill