how to claim a property tax deduction
to claim a property tax deduction the tax must apply only to the value of the personal property owned and be charged on an annual basis irrespective of when the government collects it from you 1 therefore if the state tax was only charged at the time the property was purchased then it does not meet the irs definition of a deductible personal property tax as stated earlier property tax can only be deducted if the owner chooses to itemize deductions 3 it makes sense for a taxpayer to itemize deductions if the sum of all their eligible itemized expenses is greater than the standard deduction allowed in a given tax year pros and cons of the property tax deductionfrom time to time there is talk of eliminating the property tax deduction one of the arguments for doing so is that the deduction along with the federal mortgage interest deduction discriminates against renters and encourages people to take on more debt proponents of retaining the property tax deduction say that it promotes homeownership the tax cuts and jobs act tcja of 2017 capped the deduction for state and local taxes including property taxes at a total of 10 000 5 000 if married filing separately starting in 2018 previously there was no limit on the deduction 2in addition under the new law homeowners who deduct mortgage interest are limited to the amount they pay on 750 000 worth of debt down from 1 million interest on homes bought before dec 16 2017 is guaranteed as a special exception at the previous rate 7because the standard deduction doubled in 2018 the predictions are that fewer homeowners will itemize their deductions 8 thus fewer property owners will claim the property tax deduction the standard deduction is revised every year for tax year 2022 the standard deduction for couples is 25 900 and the deduction for single filers is 12 950 9 for tax year 2023 the standard deduction for single filers is 13 850 and 27 700 for married couples filing jointly heads of household can deduct 20 800 10