To find out how much property tax you paid, check one of three sources: your mortgage lender’s annual escrow statement, your county’s online tax portal, or a statement of taxes paid from your local tax collector’s office. Which one is easiest depends on how you pay. If your mortgage servicer handles taxes through escrow, start with the lender’s paperwork. If you pay the county directly, go straight to the county’s records. The reason this number matters at tax time is that federal law lets you deduct state and local property taxes if you itemize, but only for the amount actually paid to the taxing authority, and only up to the SALT cap.
What to Have Ready Before You Search
Two pieces of information make every lookup faster. The first is your Assessor’s Parcel Number, sometimes called an APN or Map ID. It’s an alphanumeric code tied to your specific piece of land and appears on your property deed, prior tax bills, and your county assessor’s website. Most government databases will find your account instantly with it.
The second is knowing which office actually bills you. Some jurisdictions handle everything at the county level. Others send separate bills for city taxes and school district assessments. If you get more than one bill a year, you’ll need to check with each office to see the full picture. Have the specific tax years you’re looking for in mind too, since most systems ask you to pick a year before showing payment history.
Method 1: Your Mortgage Escrow Statement and Form 1098
If your mortgage payment includes escrow, your servicer collects a portion each month and pays your property taxes on your behalf. Your annual escrow disclosure statement is the cleanest record of what went out. Loan servicers are required to send it every year, and it shows exactly how much was paid, when, and to which taxing authority.
Your lender may also list a property tax figure in Box 10 of Form 1098 (Mortgage Interest Statement), which arrives by the end of January. Reporting that number is optional; the IRS instructions describe Box 10 as a space where the lender may report “other” items “such as real estate taxes, insurance paid from escrow.”1Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1098 When Box 10 is blank, fall back on the escrow statement.
One detail trips up a lot of homeowners: the deductible amount is what your lender actually paid to the county, not what you deposited into escrow during the year. Those figures usually differ because escrow balances roll over and get adjusted annually.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 530, Tax Information for Homeowners Read the disbursement line, not the deposit line.
Method 2: Your County’s Online Tax Portal
Most county treasurers and tax collectors run searchable websites. You can typically look up your property by parcel number, address, or owner name. Once you’re in your account, the portal shows a table of tax years with the amount billed, the amount paid, and the payment date. A “Paid” status confirms the obligation was cleared and gives you the exact dollar amount.
Many portals let you download the original tax bill or a payment receipt as a PDF. Save them. They’re the documentation you want if the IRS questions your deduction or if you ever need to resolve a billing dispute. Payments made electronically usually post to the portal within a few business days.
One limitation worth knowing: these portals usually show your regular annual bills. If your property was reassessed mid-year because ownership changed or you added new construction, the county may have sent a separate supplemental tax bill. Supplemental bills don’t always show up in the same search results, so check whether your county lists supplemental assessments in a different place.
Method 3: Ask Your Tax Collector’s Office Directly
When online records fall short, or you’d rather talk to someone, the local tax collector can issue a statement of taxes paid or a certified payment history. You can request it by phone, by email, or in person. Walking in usually gets you the document the same day; phone and email requests take a few business days.
Some offices charge a small fee for certified copies, and the amount varies by jurisdiction. Certified documents carry the office’s official seal, which makes them useful for legal or financial transactions where a screenshot won’t do. Staff can also help you reconcile any gap between what your records show and what the county recorded.
If You Pay Property Taxes Without a Mortgage
Homeowners who pay the county directly won’t have a Form 1098 or an escrow statement. Your usable records are the payment confirmations from your county’s online portal for electronic payments, your bank or credit card statement showing the debit, or the canceled check and receipt from an in-person payment. Keep each one attached to a copy of the tax bill it satisfies so you can match payments to the right tax year when you file.
The Year You Bought or Sold the Home
In the year a home changes hands, the tax bill gets split between buyer and seller based on the closing date. Federal law treats the seller as having paid the taxes for the portion of the year before closing, and the buyer as having paid from the closing date forward, regardless of who actually wrote the check.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 164 – Taxes Each side deducts only its prorated share.
The exact split lives in your Closing Disclosure, the settlement document you received at closing. Its adjustments section shows how much the seller credited you for unpaid taxes, or how much you reimbursed the seller for taxes they had already paid covering your period of ownership.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Closing Disclosure Explainer That prorated figure, not the full annual bill, is what belongs on your federal return for that first year.
Why the Number Matters at Tax Time
Property taxes on your primary home and any other real property you own are deductible on your federal return if you itemize.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 164 – Taxes The deduction falls under the state and local tax (SALT) cap. For 2025 the cap is $40,000 ($20,000 if married filing separately). For 2026 the inflation-adjusted cap is $40,400 ($20,200 if married filing separately).2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 530, Tax Information for Homeowners
The cap covers property taxes, state income taxes (or state sales taxes if you choose that route), and local income taxes combined. If your total across those categories exceeds $40,400 in 2026, your deduction stops at $40,400.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 530, Tax Information for Homeowners
Itemizing only pays off if your total itemized deductions clear the standard deduction. For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household.5Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 If your property taxes, mortgage interest, and other itemized amounts don’t add up past that number, the standard deduction gives you a bigger break with no paperwork.
What Doesn’t Count as a Deductible Property Tax
Not every charge on the bill qualifies. Service-based fees, like trash collection or water usage, are not deductible real estate taxes even when they’re printed on the same statement.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 530, Tax Information for Homeowners And if you agreed to cover the seller’s delinquent taxes from a prior year as part of the purchase, that amount becomes part of your cost basis in the home rather than a deductible tax payment.
How Long to Keep the Records
The IRS generally requires you to keep records supporting a tax return for at least three years after you file. For property records specifically, the IRS recommends keeping them until the statute of limitations expires for the year you sell or otherwise dispose of the property.6Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records Since property tax payments affect both your annual deduction and your cost basis, keep tax bills and payment confirmations for the entire time you own the home, plus three years after you sell.