From Ogden to Perinton, people lined up today at town clerk’s offices across Monroe County, hoping to save money by prepaying their 2018 property taxes. By paying today, they hope to deduct the payments from their 2017 federal tax return and beat the new federal tax law, which caps the amount property owners can deduct.
Meanwhile, the IRS says despite Governor Cuomo’s executive order allowing New Yorkers to prepay, people actually doing it this week may still be out of luck. The IRS has posted on its website that it will allow the deduction ONLY if the municipalities actually assessed the taxes before the end of the year.
If the county or town actually assessed taxes from July first 2017 through June 30th 2018 as the City of Rochester does, and homeowners prepay, the IRS will accept the deduction. If the town or county assesses from July 2018 through June 2019 and has estimated next year’s taxes, the IRS says you’re out of luck.