Can I add atleast 5 years of our home equity taxes to our refund? We have resided here for 15 years and they never letus use our home taxes.

[jtax · Accepted solution]

I just want to be sure I understand. You mean real estate taxes, correct? Not tax on equity. It is the whole property value that is typically taxed, not the equity that you own. The city/town doesn't know your mortgage balance.

You can only deduct taxes paid in the year you paid them (unless you are a business operating under the accrual method of accounting).

You only get a benefit from deducting real estate taxes (or any other itemized deduction) if you their total is larger than the standard deduction (2017 $6350 single, $12,700 married). Otherwise you get the larger standard deduct and you are correct that you do not benefit from itemized deductions.

Most (70%) of returns do not itemize.