Taxpayers Rushing To Claim Deductibility Of Real Estate Taxes — Prepayment Should Be OK
As I wrote in my overview of the recently signed Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017 (Tax Reform Act), for 2018, Massachusetts property owners will only be allowed to deduct $10,000 of real estate taxes and state income taxes. As a result, taxpayers have been rushing to pre-pay their real estate tax bills before year-end, in order to claim full deductibility on their 2017 tax returns.
The IRS has just issued an Advisory: Prepaid Real Property Taxes May Be Deductible in 2017 if Assessed and Paid in 2017. The Advisory states:
The IRS has received a number of questions from the tax community concerning the deductibility of prepaid real property taxes. In general, whether a taxpayer is allowed a deduction for the prepayment of state or local real property taxes in 2017 depends on whether the taxpayer makes the payment in 2017 and the real property taxes are assessed prior to 2018. A prepayment of anticipated real property taxes that have not been assessed prior to 2018 are not deductible in 2017. State or local law determines whether and when a property tax is assessed, which is generally when the taxpayer becomes liable for the property tax imposed.
I’ve spent this morning attempting to break this down as it applies to the complex byzantine world of Massachusetts real estate property taxes.
The Massachusetts real estate tax system operate on the Fiscal Year system, running from July 1 through the following June 30. January 1 is the property tax assessment date for each fiscal year. We are now in the middle of Fiscal Year 2018 which ends on June 30, 2018. The 2018 fiscal tax bill is based on the property value assessment as of January 1, 2017. Taxpayers receive four (4) bills per year, due on August 1, November 1, February 1, and May 1. The first two quarterly bills are typically “estimates” with the subsequent two quarterly bills “actual” bills.
With respect to the Tax Reform Plan, taxpayers are attempting to pay their fiscal year 2018 third and fourth quarter bills (due 2/1/18 and 5/1/18) prior to year-end.
My assessment is that this (paying 3rd and 4th quarter tax bills before year-end) should be acceptable under the IRS Guidance because the tax obligation was “assessed” as of January 1, 2017, i.e, prior to Jan. 1, 2018. On the other hand, real estate taxes due after May 1, 2018 will likely not qualify for deductibility — even if paid in 2017.
Many tax collector offices are only accepting pre-payments on or before December 29th, so hurry up and pay!
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