Property taxes may help you lower your income taxes. How? Property taxes are currently claimed as part of ‘Itemized Deductions’. In many cases, however, filing status, the amount of the standard deduction, the amount of property taxes paid and the absence of other itemized deductions, among other things, make claiming the standard deduction more beneficial. Do you know that changing the way you pay your property taxes may make the difference between claiming the standard deduction or a higher itemized deduction. This is how it can be done. Many local taxing authorities allow home owners to pay their property taxes up to the beginning of the following calendar year. So, if you’ve paid last year’s property taxes this year, then pay this year’s taxes by or before the end of this year. If you did not pay last year’s property taxes at the beginning of this year, then, pay this year’s taxes at the beginning of next year and next year’s taxes by or before the end of next year. Once you’ve paid the two years of property taxes in the same year, your property tax deduction will be greater and may be large enough to make your itemized deduction higher than your standard deduction. So, do the math. Discuss this with your tax preparer and see whether this helps you. But there is still more you can do for those tax payments to count ….. Stay tuned and I will share some more nuggets with you in my next blog.