Harlan Lunsford wrote:
- quote -

All this is unclear. What I think is happening is this. The
questioner is taking the standard deduction in '04 and is
planning to itemize in '05. What he is trying to do is get
the discount for having his payment postmarked in '04, but
preserving the deduction for '05.

No responder clearly answered the question.
IMO the answer is yes.

The county only cares about the postmark. If they actually
got the check in '04, technically it would not be
negotiable. (I had a friend who tried to cash his paycheck
[dated Wednesday] on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.)

Therefore, the deduction is for '05 which is what the
taxpayer wants.

--
To e-mail me get rid of the cats and dogs.

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wrote:

- quote -

Why not? I've seen banks accept checks that weren't even
signed; how likely are they to try to read semi-legible
scribbling in the date field?

- quote -

That wasn't specified. (Even if that's when a deposit hit,
there might have been a line of credit with the account, so
the transfer was available; the reason to avoid the check
hitting in 2003 was to avoid the fee for the line of
credit.)

Seth

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Travis Jordan wrote:

- quote -

Well, I THINK that 2003 is kinda out of the question.

But to make sure you can take the deduction for tax year
2004, make sure you date the check before end of year also.
After all, you did say you're mailing it before midnight
12/31, right? And you woudn't want to write a bad check,
right?

Merry Christmas, Y'all.
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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Travis Jordan wrote:

- quote -

IMHO it doesn't matter when the check was mailed -- at least
for income tax purposes. Since I don't know anything about
Florida property taxes, I can't speak to the discount issue.

If the check had been dated 12/31/03, it would have been a
2003 deduction. By dating the check 1/2/04, though, it
becomes a 2004 deduction. Because of the post dating, even
if the property tax people had received the check, they
could not cash it. The funds in the account only became
available in 2004, there was no transfer of funds in 2003.
Therefor, the deduction is not available until 2004.

Lanny K. Williams, CPA
Nawarat, Williams & Co., Ltd.
Income Tax Services for Expatriate Americans

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no.one[at]no.net (Travis=A0Jordan) posted:

- quote -

It doesn't matter when you date the check. If you mail it
with a postmark by December 31, you should qualify for the
discount. Since the mail will not be delivered until
January 2 -- at the earliest -- the check cannot possibly
clear from your account until next year.

So go ahead and date it December 31 (or even 29 or 30) ...
so long as you legally mail it with the 12-31 postmark, you
should earn the discount benefit.

Bill

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This question would have been easier to answer had you asked
it a year ago.

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My Florida county's property taxes are due January 1, 2004.
However, they are subject to a 1% discount if the envelope
containing the payment is postmarked on or before December
31.

If I post-date a check to January 2, 2004 incorporating the
1% discount and drop it in the mail on December 31st, can I
take the deduction in 2004, or must I take it in 2003?

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