Figuring the prorated tax for the buyers and sellers is a five-part process: Calculate the daily tax rate by dividing the annual tax rate by the days in the year (365, or 366 for leap years). Look up the day count for the closing date. Calculate the sellers’ number of days as the closing day count minus 1.

Why are real property taxes prorated at closing?

Generally, the seller will pay a prorated amount for the time they’ve lived in the space since the beginning of the new tax year. And likewise, the buyer will pay a prorated amount of property taxes to cover those charges for the rest of that calendar tax year.

What is prorated at closing?

Proration is the process of dividing various property expenses between the buyer and seller in a way that allows each party to only pay for the days he or she owns the property. There are several expenses prorated at closing, include property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, HOA dues and mortgage interest.

When do you have to pay property taxes after closing?

If a closing is occurring before property tax bills are released, our office relies on the taxes from the prior year as an estimate of what the taxes will be for the existing year. Generally, at closing, the Seller pays property taxes dating from January 1 of that year until the date of closing.

How are real estate taxes prorated at closing?

At the closing, also known as the closing of escrow, real estate taxes are prorated between the buyers and sellers so that each party pays the appropriate amount of tax for the number of days they own the property.

When do you put proration on closing statement?

This proration accounts for the time that the Seller still owned the property. For example, for a closing occurring on May 1, the prorations will be labeled like this on a settlement statement: “County Taxes January 1 to May 1.”

When do real estate taxes have to be paid?

However, they cannot be paid until near the end of the year, usually October or November, when tax statements are sent to property owners. If a transaction closes at a time during the year when tax statements are not available, the taxes are prorated or allocated to the buyer and seller with a debit and credit entry on the closing statement.