Tax question

[=DBA=Ronin]

So I am thinking I may have fucked up on my taxes a little bit for the last couple of years, though I am not 100% sure and am hoping someone can clear the air a bit for me.

I have my property taxes escrowed with my mortgage. Meaning, each month aside from my mortgage and interest, I pay xx amount in taxes. At the end of the year, I get a check from my lender that I use to pay my property tax bill.

When I got my check in 2008, I didn't actually pay the tax bill until Janurary of 2009. When I filed my 2008 return however, I deducted that payment, even though they weren't technically paid until 2009. I think I may have done this same thing in 08 for the 07 tax year.

This year, I did the same thing only because my bill was lost in a shuffle of papers until after the new year. So, my 09 taxes were paid in 10.

So the question is...if I paid 08's tax bill in 09, was I not supposed to file that under my 08 tax return? And, since I paid 09's taxes in 10, do those not get claimed until next year? If I pay 10's taxes in 10, do I get to then claim both 09 and 10's paid taxes on the 10 return?

I just haven't been able to find a solid answer on this yet so hoping someone who is more experienced with this stuff can help me out. thanks.

[krazymop]

I'm going to be honest and say I haven't had this happen, as my mortgage company pays my taxes directly, but from what I understand if the property taxes state 2009, they should be itemized on the 2009 return. I wouldn't worry that you paid them in Jan '10.

[LightBringer]

How do you get away with paying your taxes after the end of the year? They are due by dec 31 of the same year. So, I wouldn't worry about it. You just were late in payment, but they were do, and like mop said, itemized in the same year.

I typically get $2,000+ easy when I itemize vs standard deduction mainly because of the property taxes.

[BuddhaMan]

You could always call the IRS and ask the question. I had to call a few weeks ago and ended up waiting about 10 minutes on hold (less than I expected). The longer you wait to call them, the more people that'll be calling and your wait time will go up.

Speaking of fucking up taxes, that's what I did in tax year 2006 I found out recently. I have a Roth IRA in a mutual fund or three and I was adding in my capital gains and whatnot to my gross income when I don't have to. Since the size of the account isn't all that big, the tax hit wasn't that bad so I'm not going to file the paperwork to fix it since the amount to be gained is so low. Because I filed those gains/dividends, I was also filing the more complicated 1040A when I really could have been using the 1040EZ this whole time (I don't have any deductions except the standard baseline ones). I did the 1040EZ this year and knocked it out in under 30 minutes of which most of that time was reading the H&R Block website prompts.

[=DBA=Ronin]

How do you get away with paying your taxes after the end of the year? They are due by dec 31 of the same year. So, I wouldn't worry about it. You just were late in payment, but they were do, and like mop said, itemized in the same year.

I typically get $2,000+ easy when I itemize vs standard deduction mainly because of the property taxes.

In WI you have until Jan 31st to pay your property taxes. You can also break it out into installments so long as the first payment is in before the 31st.

And yeah, I found out that you must declare them on the year's return for which you paid them, not the year you paid against. So, I have to ammend both my 08 and 07 returns. But, if I pay 10's taxes before dec 31st this year, I get to claim both 09's and 10's payment on my 10 return, so I should get nearly double the return next year.

[BuddhaMan]

For those of you running Win7, I 'discovered' today the built-in calculator (calc.exe) has a new feature called 'Worksheets' and one of the worksheets does mortgage amortization and will give you your monthly payment (use one of ther websites above for more info than that)

Learn more about the Win7 calc: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/ff_calc.asp

[=DBA=Ronin]

Did the ammendment to my 08 taxes and I have to pay back $300...bleh! 07's werent really a factor cause that tax bill was only a few hundred dollars so I don't owe anything for that.

[BuddhaMan]

WTF are you doing up at 8:30am on a Saturday!? Musta been no drinking at the bowling fundraiser last night.

[=DBA=Ronin]

hehe...no, there was a bit too much in fact. I had to drive up to the lake this morning so I started the drinking early and cut myself off at 900, but the damage was done. After a run to the border for some baja gordittas and a cheesy potato burrito, I passed out on the recliner around 11. Woke up at 3 with insane heartburn and had trouble sleeping the rest of the night, so I arose at 7, had my coffee and Tums, then drove up to the lake at 9.

[LightBringer]

I'm up and out of the house (Or hotel) by 7am every day just about. My drinkin daze have been over for decades.