Nothing is certain but death and taxes
It’s tax season again, and this is our first year of filing married and having the house, so I’m anxious to get everything filed to see how it all shakes out.
Naturally, this means that somehow our forms are going to get fouled up. Sure enough, today I received the 1098 from Countrywide, and something doesn’t seem quite right – box 5, which is normally used for reporting property tax paid, is blank.
I called countrywide to ask about this – we paid almost two thousand dollars in taxes and at least part of this is deductible. After navigating one of the most frustrating automated menus that I’ve ever experienced, I finally talked to a real person. This person explained that they did report my tax paid to the IRS, but they don’t print it on the 1098 because “almost no one uses that on their return”. She also gave me the amount and told me that I should just be able to write it down and tell it to my tax person.
So… Property tax paid is tax deductible on federal income tax returns, and you are telling me that “almost no one uses that”?
Horseshit. Hopefully the person that does our taxes will be able to work with me using the information we have.
Countrywide – F+