Can I deduct my 2018 Property taxes?

[kirrabata]

I prepaid my 2018 Property taxes in Dec 2017.  I have Property Assessment Notices through Jun 2019 that were sent to me in 2017.  Those Assessments DO NOT have a billing amount, only a property value for 2018/ 2019.  The City and County does have a table for billing amount per $1000 of value that is good through June 30th of 2018.  Can I deduct all of 2018, only through Jun 30 of 2018, or none of 2018?

[CathiM · Accepted solution]

It sounds like you can deduct the payments for the periods through June 30th of 2018. It will be important for you to make sure the taxes you paid in 2017 were considered assessed in 2017. Assessed means you have been billed and are now liable.  If the assessments do not have a billing amount it can't be considered assessed.  Call the county or municipality to make sure, they should know which taxes were assessed in 2017.

• According to the IRS, pre-paying 2018 state and local property taxes in 2017 may be tax deductible under certain circumstances.
• You may be allowed a tax deduction for the pre-payment of state or local real property taxes in 2017 if two conditions are met:
  • you make the payment in 2017, and
  • your taxes were assessed before 2018 (in most cases, this means you got a bill for them).
• Prepaid real property taxes that have not been assessed prior to 2018 are not tax deductible in 2017.
• State or local law determines whether and when a property tax is assessed, which is generally when you become liable for the property tax imposed. You can check with your municipality if you are unsure about when your taxes were assessed and also double check if they will accept prepayments of your 2017 second installment.