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Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

These local benefits were for maintenance and repair and did not increase the value of my home.  I have not yet received a real estate tax bill for 2017. 

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Accepted Solutions
DDollar
Expert Alumni

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

Yes, you can deduct the special assessment if it was for maintenance and repairs.  According to the IRS:

Deductible real estate taxes generally don’t include taxes charged for local benefits and improvements tending to increase the value of your property. These include assessments for streets, sidewalks, water mains, sewer lines, public parking facilities, and similar improvements. You should increase the basis of your property by the amount of the assessment.

Local benefit taxes are deductible only if they are for maintenance, repair, or interest charges related to those benefits. If only a part of the taxes is for maintenance, repair, or interest, you must be able to show the amount of that part to claim the deduction. If you can’t determine what part of the tax is for maintenance, repair, or interest, none of it is deductible.

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13 Replies
drkmoin
New Member

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

Where do I enter the data.  There is no specific place for it.  Should I just add it to the property tax value?

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

Where is this data entered on Turbo Tax?? Do you add it to property taxes?
DDollar
Expert Alumni

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

Yes, you can deduct the special assessment if it was for maintenance and repairs.  According to the IRS:

Deductible real estate taxes generally don’t include taxes charged for local benefits and improvements tending to increase the value of your property. These include assessments for streets, sidewalks, water mains, sewer lines, public parking facilities, and similar improvements. You should increase the basis of your property by the amount of the assessment.

Local benefit taxes are deductible only if they are for maintenance, repair, or interest charges related to those benefits. If only a part of the taxes is for maintenance, repair, or interest, you must be able to show the amount of that part to claim the deduction. If you can’t determine what part of the tax is for maintenance, repair, or interest, none of it is deductible.
drkmoin
New Member

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

Where do I enter the data.  There is no specific place for it.  Should I just add it to the property tax value?

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

Where do I enter this amount?
scootser
New Member

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

yes, TurboTaxDaviD, CPA, where do we enter the data?
scootser
New Member

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

yes, TurboTaxDaviD, CPA, where do we enter the data?
flogmon
Returning Member

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

Well, my repairman won't repair the  main water line because the line was rotted and out dated material. They will have to warrantee the service, and the old line will leak again in the near future. However, they will have to replace the entire waterline and water valves and give us a 10 years warrant .

To complete this task.  This waterline have been leaking twice before.  Therefore, I had to get this task repair correctly. It cost me $6,000.00 to complete this task.

Thank you very much for your answer.  Mr. Jenkins

flogmon
Returning Member

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

No, I did not do anything with this cost.

flogmon
Returning Member

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

Should I add this cost to property Tax? or just forget it?

flogmon
Returning Member

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

ok, I will just forget about this situation.

Bye

Carl
Level 15

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

@flogmon your post is an "add on" to a threat that was created sometime back in 2017. I know this because if you'll look at the date/time of all the posts prior to your first post in this thread, you'll see a date/time of June 1 2019 2:58AM. There's no physical way possible that all of those post were posted at the same exact time down to the second. What that date/time "really" indicates, is the date/time the thread was transferred over from the old forum, to this new setup.

So you really need to start a new thread of your own with all the pertinent facts that pertain to "you" and your specific situation in 2019. Then you have a better chance of getting a response that is actually useful to you, and a higher probability of that response being correct.

Some assessments are actual rental deductions, while other assessments are capitalized and depreciated over time. It just depends on the specifics of what the assessment was for, what entity levied the assessment, and if that assessment was levied equally among all those under the jurisdiction of the entity that levied the assessment.

Example 1:

You own a multi-unit apartment building that has 10 rental units in it. You are required to pay monthly dues to the local condo association or HOA per the ordinances or covenants that you agreed to when you purchased that 10-unit complex. The condo association or HOA has jurisdiction over 25 other 10-unit complexes in the area that you do not own.

The main sewer line breaks that feeds only your building. Therefore the HOA or Condo Association levies a $5000 cost to you, and you only to repair that line and per the convenants you are obligated to pay it. In this specific an explicit scenario this is a property improvement that has to be capitalized and depreciated over time. (27.5 years if your building is all rental units.)

Scenario 2:

The main serer line breaks that feeds all buildings under the jurisdiction of the HOA or Condo Association. A $5000 fee is assessed to each owner of each building to repair this line. In this particular scenario and under these explicit conditions, your $5000 payment is deductible as a repair expense. Just be aware that there are other situations where this "exact" same scenario would "in fact" be capitalized. But I'm just trying to keep in simple for now, in an effort to help you see that what you have, "depends" on your specific and explicit situation.

Please start a new thread of your own and if I get to it first, I'll try to help out if I have knowledge of your specific and explicit situation.

 

Irina59
New Member

Can I deduct a special assessment that we paid the city in 2016 for maintenance repairs of pre-existing street, sewer, and water service?

Can I deduct special assessments for our building maintenance and repair from my 2021 tax return 

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