Why isn't my property tax showing up on my 1098 mortgage statement?

This is actually pretty common! The 1098 form will only show property taxes if they were paid FROM your escrow account TO the tax authority during the calendar year. There are a few reasons why your property taxes might not be showing on your 1098: 1) Timing issue - the mortgage company might have collected the money but not actually disbursed the payment to the tax authority by December 31, 2023 2) The tax payment could have occurred before you closed on your home (if the seller prepaid) 3) Sometimes when you make a large principal payment and restructure things (like removing PMI), the escrow arrangements can change The good news is you don't necessarily need the 1098 to claim your property tax deduction. Check your escrow statements throughout the year or your online mortgage account - there should be a record of disbursements. You can also contact your county tax office directly as they'll have records of all payments received and when they were paid.

Just wanted to share my experience with this exact problem! I spent hours trying to figure out why my property taxes weren't showing on my 1098 last year and going back and forth with my mortgage company. After getting nowhere, I finally found this service called https://taxr.ai that analyzes all your tax documents and explains what's going on. I uploaded my mortgage statements, 1098, and property tax receipts from the county, and it immediately spotted the issue - my mortgage company had collected the money but didn't disburse it until January 2nd (just missed the year-end cutoff). It even generated a letter explaining the situation that I could include with my tax return. What was really helpful is that it showed me exactly how to claim the deduction anyway using my county tax records instead of the 1098. Saved me from potentially missing out on thousands in deductions!

I wanted to follow up about that taxr.ai service someone mentioned earlier. I was really skeptical (as you could probably tell from my comment), but I was desperate after spending THREE hours on the phone with my mortgage company getting transferred around. I tried it out and I'm actually impressed. Uploaded my documents and within minutes it showed that my property taxes were collected in my escrow but the payment to the county wasn't made until January 7th, 2024 - so technically it belongs on next year's 1098. It even showed me exactly where to look on my escrow statement to verify this. What surprised me most was how it compared the county's assessment to what was collected in escrow and flagged that there was a $212 difference I should ask about. Turns out there was a small tax adjustment I wasn't aware of!

For anyone still dealing with mortgage/tax issues, I had a similar problem trying to reach my mortgage company about tax questions. After being on hold for literal HOURS, I found this service called https://claimyr.com that got me through to an actual human at my mortgage company in under 10 minutes. There's a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Basically, they wait on hold for you with the mortgage company and then call you when they get a live person. Used it to clear up my property tax confusion - turns out the payment was made on Dec 28th but wasn't recorded properly on my 1098. They sent me a corrected form within a week after I finally got to speak with the right department. Thought this might help anyone else who's trying to get answers from their mortgage company about property tax discrepancies.

I need to admit I was wrong about that Claimyr service. After posting my skeptical comment, I still couldn't get through to my mortgage company about a similar property tax issue (5 attempts, always 1+ hour on hold before getting disconnected). I reluctantly tried it yesterday, and they got me through to my mortgage servicer in about 24 minutes. I didn't have to sit there listening to the hold music, my phone just rang when they had a person on the line. The mortgage rep confirmed that my property taxes WERE paid through escrow but weren't listed on my 1098 because they were paid on January 3rd, 2024 (just missed the year-end cutoff). They're sending me documentation showing exactly when the payment was made so I can properly account for it on my taxes. Would have never figured this out without actually speaking to someone.

Chiming in as a former mortgage processor - one thing to check is if your loan was sold or transferred to a new servicer mid-year. This happens ALL THE TIME and causes tax reporting issues like this. When loans transfer between servicers, sometimes the escrow info gets messed up in the transition. The original servicer might have collected property taxes in escrow for part of the year, and the new servicer for the rest. But only the company servicing your loan on Dec 31st issues the 1098, and they might only report the property taxes they personally disbursed. Worth checking if your loan changed hands in 2023!

Don't forget to check if the property taxes were actually paid directly by you instead of through escrow! This happened to me - I thought everything was going through escrow but found out the previous owner had paid the first half of the year's taxes as part of closing, and then the county sent ME the second half bill directly which I paid without realizing it should've been handled by escrow. Your closing documents should show if property taxes were prorated and who paid what at closing. If the previous owner paid taxes in advance, your escrow might have been adjusted to account for that and would only cover future payments.

I had this exact same issue last year! After going through all the suggestions here, I found out my mortgage company had collected the property taxes in escrow throughout 2023 but didn't actually pay the county until January 4th, 2024. So even though I was paying into escrow all year, it won't show up on my 2023 1098. What helped me was logging into my county's property tax website directly - they have a payment history section that shows exactly when payments were received and from whom. In my case, it clearly showed "No payments received in 2023" even though I'd been paying my mortgage company all year. I ended up having to get a letter from my mortgage company explaining the situation for my tax preparer. The good news is that when those taxes do get paid (in 2024), they'll show up on next year's 1098, so you're not losing the deduction - it's just shifted to the following tax year. Definitely check your escrow analysis statement too - it should show projected vs actual disbursements and might explain the timing issue.

I'm dealing with a very similar situation! Just got my 1098 and was shocked to see zero property taxes listed even though I've been paying into escrow all year. After reading through all these responses, I'm starting to understand this is way more common than I thought. I'm going to follow the advice here and check my county's property tax website first to see if any payments were actually made in 2023. If not, then I'll know it's just a timing issue like so many others have experienced. One question though - for those who had to get documentation from their mortgage company about the timing, did you find it better to call them directly or use one of those services people mentioned? I'm dreading another multi-hour phone call session, but I want to make sure I have everything properly documented for my tax filing. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - this thread has been incredibly helpful for understanding what's actually happening with these escrow/1098 discrepancies!