paying property taxes early?

[b23hqb]

What part doesn't make since? Anyone can go to the county treasurer and pay their property taxes directly. If your mortgage company is paying them out of escrow, you can show them that you've already paid the tax and they will lower you're monthly mortgage payment accordingly for that tax year. Or, you can just leave it alone and you'll get an escrow overage refund when they do the annual escrow reconciliation. It's not difficult.

That's all true - here in Hillsborough County they property appraiser reassess every four - five years, but the minimum tax is due Nov 30th, increasing each month until April 30th. Even a better way, many lenders do not require escrow for taxes or insurance if you have at least 50% equity in your property. Since our first home in 1979, we've gone that route and although it is a chunk of change to fork out once a year, simple planning for it suffices. Still, I hate paying it.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

This is a moot discussion. The IRS came out with guidance yesterday that prepaying will only benefit those for whom 2018 property taxes have already been assessed. Maryland doesn't assess until July 1.

Assessed and billed.

 

[awpitt]

Wrong again genius. Maryland “appraises” property every three years. The assessment is on July 1, which can change every year.

You're the one who's incorrect, "genius". LOL


http://dat.maryland.gov/realproperty/pages/HomeOwners-Guide.aspx

ASSESSMENTS

Properties are reassessed once every three years and property owners are notified of any change in their assessment in late December. Counties contain 3 reassessment regions (cycles), which allows for approximately 1/3 of the property accounts to be reassessed each year.

Property assessment values are certified by the Department of Assessments and Taxation to local governments, and are then converted into property tax bills by applying that jurisdiction’s property tax rates.

 

[Bird Dog]

You're the one who's incorrect, "genius". LOL


]

Real Property

In Maryland, there are more than two million property accounts. The Department of Assessments and Taxation must appraise each of these properties once every three years. There are 24 local State assessment offices, one in each county and Baltimore City.

Assessments are certified by the Department to local governments where they are converted into property tax bills by applying the appropriate property tax rates. An assessment is based on an appraisal of the fair market value of the property. An appraisal is an estimate of value. There are three accepted approaches to market value:

 

[Gilligan]

Assessed and billed.

Exactly. So me going down to L'town tomorrow and throwing a check at them for what I "guess" my 2018-2019 property tax bill will be ....makes no sense.

TJ obviously didn't know that.

 

[Gilligan]

You're the one who's incorrect, "genius". LOL


http://dat.maryland.gov/realproperty/pages/HomeOwners-Guide.aspx

My property tax bill changes EVERY year...genius.

A couple times it actually went down. ;-p

 

[Clem72]

Seems everyone is focused on property tax and not state income tax (which is much higher than property tax for me, and I assume many others here). Even with my modest Lexington Park home I will lose several thousand in deductions being capped at $10k.

 

[Bird Dog]

Seems everyone is focused on property tax and not state income tax (which is much higher than property tax for me, and I assume many others here). Even with my modest Lexington Park home I will lose several thousand in deductions being capped at $10k.

Watch the populations of no-income tax states rise.....

 

[direxpgw]

Seems everyone is focused on property tax and not state income tax (which is much higher than property tax for me, and I assume many others here). Even with my modest Lexington Park home I will lose several thousand in deductions being capped at $10k.

That is correct as far as I understand it. Someone tell me if I'm wrong. Say for example you currently have the following:
Primary home = $5000 prop tax
Vacation home or prop in MD= $2000 prop tax
State income tax = $ 4000
50% match local income tax = $2000
Total tax bill = $13,000

Write off $10,000 in 2018 and lose $3000 of write off, maybe equivalent to loss of $800 est. If overall tax rate lowered to offset the $800 then who cares.

 

[Monello]

OMG! This will be the funniest thing I read all day!!!!

I sure hope you have bigger fish to fry in your life.

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

Assessed and billed.

Yeah, after I posted I knew I should added billed.

 

[steppinthrax]

Guys.

(1) This is part of the SALT deduction of State and Local taxes, so we are talking your real estate taxes as well as local taxes you pay. Since this is the case, it could be over 10K in maryland if you have a moderately sized home etc....

(2) I believe the IRS guidance is in order to pay next year's personal property taxes those taxes will need to be "assessed" this year. So your state/local SDAT would have to assess your 2018 property taxes in 2017 before the 31st of december. I don't believe our gov is sophisticated enough to jump to the gun in doing all these assessments etc... So likely what you see would go on is you'd pay money to the gov based on an estimate (if that). Now and estimate != assessment. But I suspect many will get away with simply saying that they in fact "paid" their 2018 taxes even though they paid an estimate. The IRS may crack done on a few or none, simply because it would be too much of a headache to argue this.

(3) Due to the reasons outlined in (2) you are technically giving the gov an "interest-free" loan that they can't reapply apply to anything or when the actually "assess" your taxes they will have to have a mechanism to either as you for more money that you owe them or give you a refund. Those mechanisms I'm not sure if they exist.

(4) If we assume you do make a payment for your property taxes and let's say you pay your taxes through your mortgage. What will happen is your escrow account in your mortgage will make a disbursement to SDAT, now since they know you paid your property taxes for next year, they will simply return that back to your bank. The bank will then show you have an escrow overage at the end of the year. They will usually send you a check for the overage.

 

[GURPS]

Chris Christie - GOVERNOR Chris Christie - had the nerve to whine that his property taxes were over $40k a year, and boo hoo hoo now he can't write them all off. Well, Governor Christie, perhaps if your state didn't tax its citizens into the stratosphere, you might not have freaking property taxes that are more than many people in your state even make in a year.

ya know all the Progressive Socialism cost money ......

 

[steppinthrax]

That is correct as far as I understand it. Someone tell me if I'm wrong. Say for example you currently have the following:
Primary home = $5000 prop tax
Vacation home or prop in MD= $2000 prop tax
State income tax = $ 4000
50% match local income tax = $2000
Total tax bill = $13,000

Write off $10,000 in 2018 and lose $3000 of write off, maybe equivalent to loss of $800 est. If overall tax rate lowered to offset the $800 then who cares.

That's kind of where I'm at. I checked my Sched A to find I paid at around 12,000 SALT.

I looked at it and seemed that if I were to pre-pay (somehow) it would not be all that much worth it... I'd save maybe a few hundred.

 

[Gilligan]

I sure hope you have bigger fish to fry in your life.

Funny...I'm quite sure she doesn't.

 

[Gilligan]

That's kind of where I'm at. I checked my Sched A to find I paid at around 12,000 SALT.

I looked at it and seemed that if I were to pre-pay (somehow) it would not be all that much worth it... I'd save maybe a few hundred.

I just pulled out last year's return and see I'm in similar situation...my Sched A total was definitely more than 10,000.

But I'll have to wait and see on how it shakes out overall, because the reduced rate for pass-through income should help more than the Sched A cap will hurt. I hope....

 

[black dog]

Well, I really can't address your experience. It was certainly different than what I experienced.

Mine either, but I don't have any mortgages.

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

Even if prepayment was possible the reality is that the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation hasn't sent their final numbers for assessments and Constant Yield Rate out yet.

The preliminary estimate goes out to the Counties and municipalities in November/December but the final numbers used to build the budget aren't released until the end of January/beginning of February. So nobody knows what your property tax bill coming in July will be.

Will the Constant Yield Rate be kept? Will the localities go above that? Will they go below that?

No one knows until the final numbers are released and the budget departments start pumping them in.

 

[David]

This was just released by St. Mary's Co. Gov. Wednesday. But, IRS, on same day, said it would only work if the taxes were actually assessed in 2017. What the heck does assessed actually mean? The tax bill was printed and mailed? If yes, that isn't done until 2018.

Let's all thank the Democrats for ObamaRape and the Republicans for Double taxation.

---

St. Mary's County Treasurer Accepting Overpayments for 2017 Real Estate Taxes

Leonardtown – Due to increasing requests from citizens, the St. Mary's County Treasurer is accepting overpayments for 2017 real estate taxes to be applied to future tax liabilities. Overpayments are being accepted in the treasurer's office and by mail.

Requirements:

-- Property owners understand that the St. Mary's County Treasurer and staff are not providing tax advice by offering an option for overpayment of 2017 real estate tax liabilities.

-- Each property owner should contact their tax advisor with any questions regarding Federal and State tax laws.

-- All owners making walk-in overpayments will receive a receipt with the date of overpayment and the amount of their overpayment.

-- All owners making mail-in overpayments will need to include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to receive a dated receipt. Overpayments received in our office will be provided a receipt in their SASE envelope with the date of their postmark.

St. Mary's County Treasurer
P.O. Box 642
Leonardtown, MD 20650

2017 tax bill are available at http://www.stmarysmd.com/treasurer/taxes.

Once 2018 tax liabilities are made available, any shortfall is the responsibility of the tax payer.

If the overpayment is greater than 2018 real estate tax liability the overpayment will be applied to future tax account liabilities.

Please contact the St. Mary's County Treasurer's Office with any additional questions at 301-475-4200 ext. *3300.

 

[GURPS]

St. Mary's County Treasurer Accepting Overpayments for 2017 Real Estate Taxes

If the overpayment is greater than 2018 real estate tax liability the overpayment will be applied to future tax account liabilities.

I like this part NO REFUNDS ....... you ain't getting that money back