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Can I claim property (real estate) taxes if I recently bought or sold my home?

SOLVED•by TurboTax•1252•Updated January 30, 2024

Yes, you can claim your share of these taxes if you itemize your deductions. Property (real estate) taxes are generally divided between the buyer and seller, so each pays taxes for the part of the year they own the home. See the Buyers and Sellers sections for details.

Property (real estate) taxes are part of a combination of taxes whose total is taken as a single deduction. The maximum deduction you can take for the combination of 1 and 2 is $10,000 (or $5,000 if Married Filing Separately):

  1. State and local income tax, OR sales tax
  2. Property taxes (real estate taxes + personal property taxes)

Buyers

You can claim any property (real estate) tax you were charged in your closing costs. Look for a "real estate tax," "property tax," or “county taxes” charge on your HUD-1 settlement statement.

If you made payments into an escrow account, you can only deduct the amount actually paid by your lender to the taxing authority on your behalf during the year.

Be sure to claim the deduction in the year you (or your lender, on your behalf) made the payment. So, if you paid your 2024 property tax on December 14, 2023, claim it on your 2023 return.

Sellers

You can claim property (real estate) tax you already paid for the calendar year, minus any amount allocated to the buyer. It doesn’t matter if you were reimbursed for the buyer’s share at the close of escrow or not—you can only claim your share of the property (real estate) tax for the time you owned the home.

Here are two ways to see what you were reimbursed:

  • It's in Box 6 of Form 1099-S.
  • Look for "property tax," "real estate tax," or “county taxes” on your HUD-1 settlement statement.

Ali sold their home to Sam, and it closed on November 15, 2023. The property tax bill is $6,000 per property tax year, which runs July 1, 2023–June 30, 2024. Ali made the first payment of $3,000 to cover July 1, 2023–December 31, 2023. The monthly property tax amount is $500 ($3,000 divided by 6 months).

Sam claims $750 on their taxes for half of November and all of December. They reimbursed Ali $750 through their closing costs and saw a prorated reimbursement of $750 on the HUD-1 statement.

Ali claims $2,250 on their taxes—their payment of $3,000 less Sam’s share of $750. Ali sees this amount in Box 6 of Form 1099-S, as well as on the HUD-1 statement.

As mentioned previously, the property (real estate) tax is part of a combined deduction: sales tax OR state and local property taxes; combined with property taxes (real estate taxes + personal property taxes).

This deduction is capped at $10,000 ($5,000 if Married Filing Separately), where previously there was no cap. Taxpayers must itemize to get this deduction—that part hasn't changed.

This hypothetical example illustrates the differences:

2018 and after

2017

  • State and local tax (or sales tax) = $7,500
  • Property tax = $5,000
  • Vehicle registration = $500
  • Total SALT = $13,000

Deductible amount = $5,000 (married filing separately) or $10,000 (all others)
  • State and local tax (or sales tax) = $7,500
  • Property tax = $5,000
  • Vehicle registration = $500
  • Total SALT = $13,000

Deductible amount = $6,500 (married filing separately) or $13,000 (all others)

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