Should St. Louis Residents Prepay Their Personal Property Taxes?

ST. LOUIS, MO — Millions of people across the country are rushing to pay their personal property taxes early to take advantage of a tax break that will go away next year under the Republican tax plan signed into law by President Trump last week. The law caps deductions for state and local taxes at $10,000 to offset a massive reduction in the corporate tax rate and a temporary across-the-board reduction in the individual rate.

But, new guidance by the IRS is complicating taxpayers' plans, and may force some local governments to refund the prepayments they have already received.

"A prepayment of anticipated real property taxes that have not been assessed prior to 2018 are not deductible in 2017," the agency said Wednesday. "State or local law determines whether and when a property tax is assessed, which is generally when the taxpayer becomes liable for the property tax imposed."

Both St. Louis City and St. Louis County have pre-payment options for citizens wanting to pay local property taxes early. For the city, prepayments can be made at the Collector of Revenue's office at 1200 Market St. Room 109. A pre-payment application can be found here. For the county, pre-payments can be made at the Collector of Revenue's office at 41 South Central Ave. in downtown Clayton. Payments can also be made by mail, but are not accepted at satellite offices.

But in both cases, prepayment is unlikely to save St. Louisans money since next year's taxes won't be assessed before the Dec. 31 deadline, meaning residents of the city and the county could end up paying thousands more in taxes in 2018.

Many accountants and tax experts have been counseling their clients to prepay their taxes for weeks, and the new ruling by the IRS is sure to sew confusion. A welter of local laws mean some citizens will be able to avoid the tax hike, and some local lawmakers are rushing to change their assessment dates ahead of the new year, raising legal issues of their own. Critics say the confusion is the result of a rushed tax bill passed by lawmakers who didn't fully understand the ramifications of the new law they were creating.

The law creates a permanent tax cut for corporations and a temporary one for individuals that Republicans say will create jobs and lead to bigger paychecks. Democrats say it will balloon the deficit and that corporations will pocket the cash rather than pass it on to workers.

Photo: Taxpayers lined up around the country hoping to save thousands on next year's taxes. (Chip Somodevilla/News/Getty Images)