Property owners looking to prepay 2018 property taxes in Georgia are apparently out of luck.

Georgia law won’t let local tax commissioners accept payments without first getting an order to “bill and collect” local property taxes from the Georgia’s Department of Revenue, which first has to check and approve county tax digests, according to Liberty County Tax Commissioner Virgil Jones.

If they do, they could be fined.

And since the county traditionally gets that order from the state in late November or early December of the same year, 2018’s taxes won’t be billed until that time in 2018, he said.

Jones said he’s gotten requests from property owners to prepay 2018 taxes, and apparently that’s happening around the United States as property owners seek to pay their 2018 property taxes early in case they’re unable to use them as a deduction.

The reason for the rush to try and prepay property taxes ahead of time is the recent passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which will reduce the deduction for state and local taxes, including property taxes, to $10,000 in 2019 for 2018 taxes.

It’s led to a lot of confusion, and Jones said anyone with questions is asked to call his office at 912-876-3389.  

Here’s a link to information put out by the Internal Revenue Service: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-advisory-prepaid-real-property-taxes-may-be-deductible-in-2017-if-assessed-and-paid-in-2017