You may claim the property tax that is paid on the property that covers your period of ownership, no matter how it is paid, even if not with your own funds.
technically, this is treated as a reduction in the sale price. For example, if a negotiated contract price is $100,000, and you received a rebate from your real estate agent in the amount of $1000, then your purchase price is actually $99,000, and this is the figure you would use when reporting a capital gains transaction such as the sale of your home, or for calculating depreciation if you place the home in business business. In this particular case, your real estate taxes were paid out of the agent‘s rebate, which is the same as paying it with your own funds. But in point of law, even if the seller had absorbed the cost, you are allowed to deduct the taxes as if you had paid them, and that absorbed cost would have been treated as an adjustment to the purchase price.
