City of Albany folks: You may be able to prepay 2018 property taxes

Given what is happening in Washington with respect to tax reform and the possible elimination or capping of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, the City of Albany expects to be able to accept payments of 2018 property taxes on December 29, 2017. Albany’s authorization to accept these payments is premised on the expectation that Albany County will provide the City its Tax Warrant on or before December 29.

Please be advised that the authority for the City to collect 2018 property taxes on December 29, 2017 does not address the deductibility of such prepaid taxes for income tax purposes, as that issue is under the purview of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

– Upon advice from the New York Conference of Mayors

Payments can be made at:
Treasurer’s Office
City Hall
24 Eagle Street, Room 109
Albany, New York 12207
NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS
OF THE
CITY OF ALBANY

You may be able to prepay your 2018 property taxes on December 29 at City Hall.

The Treasurer’s office now offers multiple ways for you to obtain property tax bill information.

Save a trip to City Hall, view, print and/or pay my tax bill online at payments.albanyny.gov. Payment may be made directly from a checking account for a $.50 cent fee, or by credit card for a $.25 cent fee plus 1.95% of the total payment.

You can request a change to your billing address by emailing taxbilladdresschange@albanyny.gov.

You can request a copy of your Tax bill and/or receipts for payment by using the following addresses:

Receive an e-mail copy of a 2017 tax bill taxbill@albanyny.gov
Receive a paid receipt by emailing 2017paidtax@albanyny.gov

Or submit your information [on the page] to receive a copy of your 2017 tax bill or receipt within 24 hours.
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From the LA Times: Now that the tax overhaul has passed, here are five moves to consider before year’s end.

Under current law, employees are allowed to deduct unreimbursed business expenses if they total more than 2% of their adjusted gross income.

They include a home office, depreciation on a personal computer required for the job, dues to professional societies and subscriptions to journals and trade magazines.

All of those deductions would disappear through 2025 under the Republican tax bill, so you probably want to move as many of those expenses as you can to this year, such as by re-upping professional journal subscriptions.
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From Nation of Change:

[The bill] mandates automatic Medicare cuts of at least $25 billion in 2018 and $400 billion over 10 years. In effect, seniors will pay for tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy as automatic spending cuts are triggered because the tax cuts add $1.5 trillion to the national debt. Automatic cuts altogether will total $136 billion in 2018 and include reductions in agriculture subsidies, student loans, military retirement and more. [Congressional Budget Office (CBO)]
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This Tax Accountant’s Thoughts on the New Tax Law: This is a draconian tax bill for employees.

It also is insidiously designed to social engineer our society, away from wage earners and the benefits that employers are obligated to provide, to become an increasingly non-union and non-employee based economy of contractors and sub-contractors, with no benefits, sick pay, family leave, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, or vacation pay.

And, of course, no health insurance.