The recently-adopted GOP tax bill has immediate implications for part-time resident taxpayers.   Truro taxpayers have a unique opportunity to save on taxes in 2018 by pre-paying their FY 2018 Truro property tax payment in full by December 31, 2018.

For those part-time resident taxpayers having homes in high-tax states such as California, Connecticut, Massachusetts,  and New Jersey, this may be helpful.  You should consult you own tax advisers to confirm if this works for you.

Effective January 2018, the new GOP tax plan limits our ability to deduct state and local taxes, including property, income, and sales tax. The final GOP bill caps the deduction at $10,000 for these taxes.  While the GOP prohibited pre-payment of income and sales taxes, it did not prohibit prepayment of state and local property taxes. Whether oversight or loophole, it affords us a rare opportunity to save on 2018 taxes by pre-paying the balance of Truro FY 2018 property taxes.

Truro allows us to pay our bill in whole or part at any time.  You can pay your Truro property and personal taxes for FY2018 –  for which we have already been billed in full in 2017.  This has several benefits:

1. It allows you to deduct your full FY2018 Truro property taxes in your tax filings for 2017, when these are still deductible.
2. You can then apply $10,000 cap in 2018 to other state and local taxes you may have to pay – giving you room to claim other eligible taxes against that cap in 2018.
3. It may take some of the bite out of the increased property taxes due to the RTE adoption in FY 2018 imposed on part-time resident taxpayers.
4. To take advantage of this, you will need to pay the second half of your Truro property taxes by December 31, 2017 using some method that can prove date stamp on or before 12/31. This includes:
   • USPS postmark by some trackable and date stamped method (certified mail, express mail, etc.). that can prove it was sent before 12/31/17.
   • FedEx/UPS or other express mail delivery system that proves it was accepted for delivery before 12/31/17.
   • Hand Delivery to the Truro Town Hall by NOON on December 29, 201. 7 (Note: Town Hall closes early for the holiday weekend.) The Town will also recognize regular mail delivery to the Town’s mailbox by January 2, 2018. For this method the addresses are:

                    Truro Tax Collector | 24 Town Hall Road | PO Box 2030 | Truro, MA 02666

However, IRS postmarking rules apply per methods cited in a) and b), so if you choose to pre-pay, do so according to your ability to prove send date.