Property taxes paid at time of refinancing?

Chad
We refinanced our house in Nov 07 with first payment on new motgage starting in Jan 08. At the time of refinancing, 6 months of taxes for Jan-June of 08 was included in the closing costs. Now, our form 1098 for 2008 only shows 6 months of taxes paid for July-Dec 08. Should we have deducted the Jan-June 08 taxes in 07 or can we deduct the the full year's taxes for 08 eventhough the form 1098 only refelects half of 08 taxes? Thank you

Deandra
you can deduct a full years real estate tax on your 08 return...when you refinanced did you change mortgage companies...if so you may have half of the taxes on one 1098 and the other half on another...in my experience they are usually paid in 2 installments, one in june and the other in december...if you changed co's that would explain why only the december payment was shown and probably only shown on the closing statement...hope that's relatively clear...bottom line is you can deduct all real estate taxes you paid in 2008 on your 2008 return.

Leonarda
Whatever property taxes were paid in 2008 are deductible even when paid out of escrow. If 2007 and 2008 real estate taxes were paid in 2008 then they both can be deducted in 2008.If this is still confusing then access the tax collector's site for your county and see how much was paid in 2008. That is all you need to know and you can claim the total paid.