What’s the final word? Can NJ pre-pay 2018 property taxes?

I just prepaid the first two quarters for 2018.  Per my accountant's instructions, I obtained vouchers from the town for my 1st and 2nd quarter taxes and a receipt showing that they were paid in 2017.

If you will be affected by AMT in 2017, you get no benefit from prepaying property taxes this year.

yahooyahoo said:

If you will be affected by AMT in 2017, you get no benefit from prepaying property taxes this year.

This.

I’m  out of the country so can’t pay in person. My question is: 

-  I presume the check can be mailed as long as it’s clearly postmarked by December 31 (including potentially via Federal Express)?

- If so, can somebody kindly confirm the exact mailing address to mail the first two 2018 quarters of Maplewood property taxes? I want to make sure I don’t make any mistakes (as I am sending from Canada).

Thanks!

- Alex

Is this the to whom the check should be made out (assuming it can be mailed, provided it is postmarked by December 31/17 at the latest)?:

Township of Maplewood Tax Collector
MUNICIPAL BUILDING
574 VALLEY STREET
MAPLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY 07040-2691
Phone: (973) 762-8120 ext. 2500
Fax: (973) 762-3096

- Alex

I don't know if postmarked date would apply or date of receipt by township (if the latter, that would defeat the purpose of paying by mail).  Best approach, if you can't phone tomorrow morning, might be to pay on-line from Town website. https://wipp.edmundsassoc.com/Wipp/?wippid=0711  There will be a service charge.  To meet current IRS requirements, you will need a real property tax bill issued during 2017 for your 2018 taxes.  Vouchers for first 2 quarters of 2018 are available.

My accountant seemed confident that the postmark date would be allowable, but could he be mistaken? (just checking!) 

Alex

US postmark date is fine, but I have no idea about Canadian p.o.  FedEx receipt/date should also be OK.

I think it is safer to use the online payment system.(https://wipp.edmundsassoc.com/Wipp/?wippid=0711) If you do it via "e-check" it is a debit from your bank account and the convenience fee is $1.05. (There is a much higher convenience fee for credit card payments.) It has a link for a printable receipt on the page and you also receive an email confirmation.

12/31 is a Sunday so no mail will be postmarked on Sunday.  Also the $10,000 tax deduction limit also includes state and local income tax, so you could include that amount in your estimate payment.

Is this the to whom the check should be made out (assuming it can be mailed, provided it is postmarked by December 31/17 at the latest)?:

Township of Maplewood Tax Collector MUNICIPAL BUILDING 574 VALLEY STREET MAPLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY 07040-2691 Phone: 973) 762-8120">(973) 762-8120 ext. 2500 Fax: 973) 762-3096">(973) 762-3096

- Alex

Another wrinkle if your taxes are usually paid from a Wells Fargo mortgage escrow account:

Prepaying Property Taxes? Your Bank May Make You an Audit Risk

Christie signed an order today. Must be postmarked by 12/31 if not delivered in person. Says nothing about needing to be US post marked. (However, if I were out of the country, I would try to pay online.)

http://nj.gov/governor/news/news/552017/approved/20171227b.html- 

http://nj.gov/infobank/circular/eocc237.pdf

Not to obsess , but if I’m mailing a check, do I make it out to:

“Township of Maplewood Tax Collector”

And mail it to:

 MUNICIPAL BUILDING 574 VALLEY STREET MAPLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY 07040-2691 (?)

Going to get the check tomorrow and mail it vis Fedex from Canada and want to be sure ( and can’t reach the tax office in Maplewood yet).  

Much thanks ( if anyone knows!)

- Alex

I'm trying to understand why you would go to all that trouble when you can pay online from your bank account for a $1.05 convenience fee and receive a receipt on the spot.

You make the check out to "Township of Maplewood" and mail it to the Tax Collector's office at the address you gave above.

I paid the first two quarters thru my lender. I only wanted to pay a set amount that which is over the 100000 still allowable but they said I had to pay the two quarters in full. Wells Fargo

were taxes assessed this year for 2018?  I am pretty sure that I received this I for but I can’t find the paper

sac said:

I'm trying to understand why you would go to all that trouble when you can pay online from your bank account for a $1.05 convenience fee and receive a receipt on the spot.

I don’t have the funds in my checking account and don’t have time to transfer them (it would take 3 business days). Believe me, I’d much prefer to do what you suggest if I could.

- Alex 

alexj said:

sac said:

I'm trying to understand why you would go to all that trouble when you can pay online from your bank account for a $1.05 convenience fee and receive a receipt on the spot.

I don’t have the funds in my checking account and don’t have time to transfer them (it would take 3 business days). Believe me, I’d much prefer to do what you suggest if I could.

- Alex 

Ah, that makes sense. Sorry you have to go through that. Good luck!

Sorry, I haven't kept up with the new tax rules or this conversation, but I have a basic question. If the standard deduction for joint filings is going to be doubled to $24,000 ,doesn't it greatly offset the fact that we only get to deduct $10K in property taxes?

mantram said:

If the standard deduction for joint filings is going to be doubled to $24,000, doesn't it greatly offset the fact that we only get to deduct $10K in property taxes?

An example: Someone normally itemizes $35,000 in deductions, including $15,000 for property taxes. Cap the property tax at $10,000 and that still leaves $30,000 to itemize — so this taxpayer will remain an itemizer rather than take the standard deduction, but lose $5,000 in deductions that he or she would otherwise have had.

safetyfirst said:

were taxes assessed this year for 2018?  I am pretty sure that I received this I for but I can’t find the paper

I couldn't find the paper either.  I was able to get it at Town Hall on Thursday.  Key here seems to be that the amount due for quarters one and two of 2018 has already been set in some municipalities.  Property owners in those municipalities are currently able to deduct advanced real property payments while those in municipalities that have not done so are not able to deduct advance payments on their 2017 returns. 

mantram said:

Sorry, I haven't kept up with the new tax rules or this conversation, but I have a basic question. If the standard deduction for joint filings is going to be doubled to $24,000 ,doesn't it greatly offset the fact that we only get to deduct $10K in property taxes?

Married filing jointly tax payers may find this is true if the have little in the way of additional deductions and relatively low (for Maplewood/South Orange) real property taxes.  Single tax payers however will only be able to take a $12,000 standard deduction.  This is not apt to be enough to cover the loss of the SALT deduction.  However, everyone's situation is different which is why general advice has been to check with a tax expert to get an individual recommendation.

DaveSchmidt said:

mantram said:

If the standard deduction for joint filings is going to be doubled to $24,000, doesn't it greatly offset the fact that we only get to deduct $10K in property taxes?

An example: Someone normally itemizes $35,000 in deductions, including $15,000 for property taxes. Cap the property tax at $10,000 and that still leaves $30,000 to itemize — so this taxpayer will remain an itemizer rather than take the standard deduction, but lose $5,000 in deductions that he or she would otherwise have had.

That works out if you have $20,000 in mortgage interest, charitable contributions and medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of adjusted gross income. 

Any guess as to what the average mortgage interest yearly cost is in SOMA?

While this is true, keep in mind that someone who can afford 35k in currently deductible expenses is also most likely paying AMT.  And if so, the AMT exemption for married couples is approximately 30k higher in 2018 than in 2017.   Coupled with bracket changes, the 2018 Federal tax to be paid will very likely be considerably lower.

But every situation is different.

DaveSchmidt said:

mantram said:

If the standard deduction for joint filings is going to be doubled to $24,000, doesn't it greatly offset the fact that we only get to deduct $10K in property taxes?

An example: Someone normally itemizes $35,000 in deductions, including $15,000 for property taxes. Cap the property tax at $10,000 and that still leaves $30,000 to itemize — so this taxpayer will remain an itemizer rather than take the standard deduction, but lose $5,000 in deductions that he or she would otherwise have had.

Our property taxes are paid out by the bank out of escrow too.

I found it hard to believe, but our mortgage company paid the first two quarters of 2018 for us even though the amount was almost double the amount we had in escrow.

I repeatedly asked "aren't you giving me a free loan?" and they said they said they were because they knew that the money would be re-paid relatively quickly through our 2018 escrow payments.

I found this free loan extremely strange and made two separate phone calls to two separate people on two separate days at our bank's escrow department, but they told me the same thing.

Has anyone else whose property taxes are paid out of escrow had the bank advance them money? 

alexj said:

The other option we were given is to let our mortgage lender know by 8 pm tonight (who have been paying our property taxes out of an escrow) and THEY will pre-pay on our behalf whatever amount we specify for 2018 property taxes before the end of this month. We'd then have the option afterwards of paying whatever additional escrow they require in 12 monthly payments or in other ways (with no interest charged, etc.). My questions:

- If our 2018 property taxes are $23419, should we have them pre-pay $13419? 

- They also said they need a set amount of money in escrow of $4700.54 (not sure how that works or if this would change) and that we've already paid in full for all of 2017. If this is the case and we decided to pay them back over 12 payments, how much MORE would we end up paying/month over what we WOULD have been otherwise paying? Thanks for any quick help!

- Alex

Procreate.  Rubio got his increased child care credit, but now he says that lowering the corporate tax rate to 21% was probably wrong and more cuts should have been given to the middle class. What a (fill in the blank.)