Carson City ‘bombarded’ by those who want to pay property taxes early

In the wake of the IRS announcement taxpayers may be able to prepay local property taxes before the new tax law caps that deduction, Carson City officials say they have had numerous calls from homeowners and businesses.

“We’ve been bombarded,” said Assessor Dave Dawley. “One individual asked if they can pay the next 10 years.”

The new tax law caps deductions for state and local taxes at $10,000. It’s one of the more controversial pieces of the law with Republicans pointing out the deductions cost the federal treasury some $35 billion in 2016 but Democrats complaining the change disproportionately affects Blue states with higher taxes like New York and California.

Carson City Treasurer Gayle Robertson said the calls started coming in last week. She and her staff estimated they’ve received about 50 calls and a number of people have made excess payments online to try to claim deductions into future years.

She said her staff is voiding those electronic payments and calling the property owners to let them know they can’t pre-pay future years’ taxes. She said those payments will be put back on their credit cards.

Robertson said people can pay the taxes owed for the current 2017-18 fiscal year. The remaining payments are due in January and March and the taxpayer can itemize and deduct those payments from their federal income tax bill.

But she said the tax for 2018-2019 hasn’t been assessed yet so, in Nevada, none of the county treasurers can accept advance payments for future years.

There are currently more than 18,000 properties in Carson City that pay property taxes. Nevada, unlike many other states, doesn’t impose state income taxes so no deductions are available at the state level for those costs. The federal tax legislation itself bars prepayment of state income taxes.