Anyone else prepaying property taxes so you can still deduct them this year?

[MomToOne]

Maybe you're situation is fairly unique and that's why the calculators don't work well for you??? I personally think they're useful.

Nope. I'm pretty typical. Your calculator is off for my situation because it doesn't account for the college tax credit properly - while not everyone takes it, there's a whole lot of people that do. And the fact is that it takes just one thing like that for these calculators to call it the wrong way for someone, by a significant amount.

Your calculator also is very wrong on my "before" number because it got my state taxes wrong by a significant amount for some reason (a deduction I take under the old plan), so the delta it predicts is way off.

 

[HopperFan]

So far I haven't seen any calculator that correctly predicted the impact on my taxes. I've actually read the bill, and setup my own spreadsheet with the changes that apply to my situation to see the impact. I encourage everyone to do the same (although most of the info you need is now out there in more consumable formats, you don't need to read the bill LOL). The calculators have been off wildly, and my situation does not include anything unusual. It's just the number of different permutations and combinations of what deductions and such people take is so different, that these easy hit calculators and the few examples news articles give really aren't enough to know how you will or won't be impacted.

Tried a few, they are all over the place, use very little data and I wouldn't rely on any of them. NO ONE should trust them. Most of them that I have tried have automatically created a "past tax return" based on their estimates and they have all been very wrong. I hope they are because while I am supposed to be in the group PROMISED to be getting larger increases in savings. But mine is actually coming up I will pay $4000 MORE. So either they are very faulty or I've been lied to.

Sadly not enough are looking at the long term ramifications to us as individuals, which for many will be detrimental. My DS who is going into teaching ... will be considered slightly above poverty level. I wonder how long he'll stick it out and leave the teaching to the barely qualified. The scary part is how to handle trillions in debt .... you take from others .... like my disabled son, whose medical care and day program and more will be on the chopping block.

I think we all agree the system is broke, needs fixing, needs fraud stopped, needs accountable purchasing .... but rather than do the work, the decision was made to just take the easy way out and put on the backs of others.

 

[deide71]

I don't need a calculator to tell me we are going to pay more. Losing the personal exemption and capping deduction for property and state taxes is not offset by the increased child tax credit or lowering the tax rates.

 

[a742246]

I just thanked my 16 month grandchild for this tax cut since he will be paying for it!

 

[havaneselover]

Nope. I'm pretty typical. Your calculator is off for my situation because it doesn't account for the college tax credit properly - while not everyone takes it, there's a whole lot of people that do. And the fact is that it takes just one thing like that for these calculators to call it the wrong way for someone, by a significant amount.

Your calculator also is very wrong on my "before" number because it got my state taxes wrong by a significant amount for some reason (a deduction I take under the old plan), so the delta it predicts is way off.

Technically it’s not my calculator

 

[melanielll]

Here's a calculator for those so inclined:
http://taxplancalculator.com/

Hoping that calculator is correct. It shows us paying $12K less. Which, considering we paid $150K last year is at least a start.

 

[MomToOne]

Technically it’s not my calculator

I admit I felt funny referring to it that way, since I know its not "yours" but it was the easiest way to reference it!

 

[shoney]

I hope that calculator is right. Has us saving $1k this year
We have itemized deductions and our property taxes are over $10k.

 

[RitaE]

We had much more investment income than usual this year so it looks like we would've owed in April for our 2017 State Tax Return. I went ahead and paid that so it'll showed as a 2017 tax paid in 2017 and I should be able to itemize it on the 2017 Federal Return from what I can figure. I haven't figured out what's up with Real Estate Taxes yet and don't feel terribly enthusiastic about combining through tax code changes in December. Blech.

I've played with a couple of different calculators and we seem to come out better on all of them. Which frankly I don't feel terrible about because we pay large amounts in taxes and now we'll pay a large amount minus a small break.

 

[TwoMisfits]

People guaranteed to save money...
1. Those who use the standard deduction now - they will see enormous savings between the doubling of that deduction and the 3% cuts to every tax bracket (and the child tax credit offsets the loss of exemptions for kids)...
2. Those who itemize but don't reach the $12-$24K levels - you'll get the extra deduction plus the 3% rate cut
3. Those who started to lose the child tax credit ($110K old level) who make more than that but way less than $400K (especially if they don't itemize at a high level or if they take a standard deduction) - they probably make out the most...

Those in the iffy category
1. Those who itemize at a moderately high level using some now limited deductions. For example, if you itemize at $35K+ on a $100K income, you are probably coming out dead even or slightly behind.
2. Those who have kids between 18 and 22, depending if they were dependents - these kids are only partially offset in the new bill.

Those who will pay more
1. Those who itemized at a huge level using the mortgage deduction and SALT - now that these are limited, there just won't be the ability to write as much income off...

Under the original House bill, many families were gonna get burned. This was FIXED in the Senate bill, and STAYED fixed in the final bill. It's now very pro-family, at least until the next tax bill gets written by the 2018 or 2020 Congress (since these things can get written every year)...

 

[okeydokey]

I just thanked my 16 month grandchild for this tax cut since he will be paying for it!

We will all be paying for it. Cuts to social security and Medicare will follow.

 

[TwoMisfits]

We will all be paying for it. Cuts to social security and Medicare will follow.

Doubt it...elections are coming. Most likely scenario is that social security and possibly Medicare eligibility get a graduated age increase like SS did in 1983...since average life span has gone up 4+ years (the average across all genders and races) since that time frame and the last age increase ends in 2027 when it moves to 67, I wouldn't be surprised if they phase in another age increase from 67-70 over another 22-30 year period starting in 2037. They should probably just stick it in like they do inflation-adjustments and be done with it, so it works long term...

 

[runwad]

Nope. I'm pretty typical. Your calculator is off for my situation because it doesn't account for the college tax credit properly - while not everyone takes it, there's a whole lot of people that do. And the fact is that it takes just one thing like that for these calculators to call it the wrong way for someone, by a significant amount.

Your calculator also is very wrong on my "before" number because it got my state taxes wrong by a significant amount for some reason (a deduction I take under the old plan), so the delta it predicts is way off.

What do you mean by this? I'm interested because I have 2 in college and we get the AOTC. How will that affect things?

 

[MomToOne]

What do you mean by this? I'm interested because I have 2 in college and we get the AOTC. How will that affect things?

I probably phrased that badly - it doesn't account for it at all. So it affects the final "you'll pay THIS" number in the calculator we were discussing. And because my state income tax refund will no longer need to added into my income (because I am not itemizing anymore), I get slightly more credit because I am in the credit phase out income range. There are no core changes to the credit.

 

[bdcp]

Using the calculator, we should save $7800 under the new plan. We currently pay about $9000/yr in property taxes in NoVA. We also pay personal property taxes on vehicles (this past year about $600 for our two cars-based on value) DH and I make good money, and we're very close to retirement (<5 years away). No kids under 18, none in college. Very well funded 401ks which we are still putting into. We only have our first mortgage which is under $750,000 but our interest deduction alone is $21,000. DH got a large raise this year when he changed jobs in Aug (15%) and he also started receiving his O-6 Navy Reserve retirement pay (Jul) so our income has changed drastically this year. I was prepared to retire early if we got pushed too much into the next tax bracket since we would still be ahead of 2016 with my pension and SS offset (Fed gov-FERS). So, our strategy is to change our deductions so we don't owe much. The retirement from the Navy only withholds about 3% for Federal and nothing for state so we need to adjust for that.

 

[havaneselover]

FYI the $750K cap is for new mortgages. Old mortgages are grandfathered in at $1 million.

 

[DawnM]

My accountant says we will be paying $4,000 more (roughly) after this bill is implemented. Something about losing our personal exemptions combined with our deductions.

The calculator is not the entire picture, everyone needs to really dig and see how it will impact them.

 

[DawnM]

Not going to impact the "average" American if you go by the numbers.
Average property tax bill in the U.S. is $3296 according to ATTOM Solutions, a Real Estate tracking company. So $10,000 cap is three times that.
The average price of an existing home sold in the U.S. is $248,000 YTD in the U.S. The average price of a new home in the U.S. is $372,400 YTD in 2017. So a $750,000 cap on mortgage interest won't impact most folks.
The median income is $52,250 in the U.S. according to the U.S. Census.
So if you are impacted, you may not be rich, but you are more affluent than the average American if you go by the numbers.

Residents of 10 counties in the 2200 plus counties in the nation will be most impacted negatively by the tax bill according to this article.
https://www.attomdata.com/news/home...s-could-be-most-impacted-by-gop-tax-proposal/

Yikes, median household income is $52,250 and the average home price is $250K? I understand there are people who make less and more and there are cheaper and more expensive homes, but I had thought the averages could afford an average home. I guess not.

 

[hsmamato2]

Yes. I have to drop payment off today to get it done in time.

 

[supersnoop]

Yikes, median household income is $52,250 and the average home price is $250K? I understand there are people who make less and more and there are cheaper and more expensive homes, but I had thought the averages could afford an average home. I guess not.

Median home price is $205k. That means half are more and half are less. “Average” doesn’t tell the whole story. Mean household income is closer to $72k.