This is a very specific question, but wondering if anyone here has experience or can see something in the source materials that my bleary brain is missing...
In Illinois, at tax time, we can receive a credit toward state income tax that is 5% of property tax paid on a principal residence.
Here is the form where you figure the credit (
http://www.revenue.state.il.us/taxforms/IncmCurrentYear/Individual/IL-1040-Schedule-ICR.pdf); here is the explanatory publication (
http://www.revenue.state.il.us/Publications/Pubs/Pub-108.pdf).
This has never been difficult for me before, but 2016 was weird... I got married (so we're MFJ for the first time), and we sold two condos (one apiece) and bought a new home. So... that's three properties on which one or both of us paid property tax in 2016:
- My condo - paid $1845 in property taxes - sold 6/1
- Husband's condo - paid $4214 in property taxes - sold 11/1
- New home - purchased 10/14 - paid $1976 in property taxes (its actually a 2-flat -- this is the portion of taxes apportioned to our owner-occupied section)
The state docs clarify that we do not include property tax for a property purchased in 2016, so #3 is not part of my quandary. But 1 and 2 are a head-scratcher. In my mind, we should be able to count both condos 1 and 2: one was my primary residence for a chunk of the year, the other his, and then we eventually combined residences. But Schedule ICR only allows for me to input one property. And since I have to input the property number, it doesn't seem logical to combine them and just call it a day. It does include an option to note the PIN for an adjoining lot, but that's not the case here.
I thought Pub-108 would clear this up for me -- heck it includes this language in the intro: "If you and your spouse each have a principal residence or if you had two principal residences during the tax year due to the sale of your home, you may claim the tax paid on both residences when figuring this credit." ... but then it doesn't tell me how to actually do that (the section it references is just about selling a home during the tax year, not accounting for 2 principal residences).
Possibilities:
- Just combine both tax $$ figures as a grand total, input just one property PIN, and stop worrying.
- List one condo in the main slot, and the other as an "adjoining lot on which we paid taxes." That allows me to input two PINs, but they're not adjoining lots...
- Use only one condo's taxes (the higher one, obviously, which is also the condo where sum-total we spent the most time) and just let the other disappear into the ether.
Anyone got any thoughts here? We're obviously not talking about an enormous sum of money, but I'm trying to do things properly in the way that follows all rules and also benefits us the most. Thanks in advance!
Edited to fix list formatting
