On the sale of the home, you get caught up on the property taxes, as they are paid in arrears. The amount you paid at closing (or the amount your proceeds were reduced by) gets added to the property taxes on the residence sold for the property tax deduction.
On the purchase of a home, the seller generally gets the taxes paid up to date in the way of a credit to you at closing, so your actual property taxes on the new home is what you actually paid (or paid out of escrow) less the credit at closing.
Confusing I agree. Best thing to do is get a sheet of paper out and do the house sold, then a new sheet for purchase and make sure this total of the two is listed as Real Estate taxes. Keep the sheets of paper in the tax file.
