Call the IRS, they'll answer any questions you have.

We have always kept a good tally of our deductions, and also tithe. We had been keeping those tallies for years, and giving as much as we could feel comfortable giving, and found out after the fact that we usually did not exceed the standard deduction. We don't hold a mortgage, and that could be why. Since finding that out (we have an accountant do our returns), I am more careful now on my timing for contributions, monies into an IRA, expenditures, capitol gains. I donate to charities/churches because I want to help them, but there is nothing wrong with also being able to use it to offset taxes if you can. I guess standard deductions are nice, but if you don't exceed them, even when you give generously, and others who don't give anything still get the same tax breaks......well, it sort of takes the hair off where fairness is concerned. I have been known to make phone calls to my accountant to ask "Is this a good time to buy capital equipment?", "Is this a good time to make a withdrawal from a deferred account?" It really helps to sit down at times other than tax time, to crunch your numbers after the fact and project what your tax liabilites will be or how you can plan deductions to your best tax benefits. Like you are doing, btw. But a lot of people don't. Always run your household finances, like it were a business.

Something similar happened to us when we bought our cottage on the river in 2000. We bought it from a guy we knew, Joel, and there were no RE agents involved, but we did have a title search done. He had only owned it for a year and was moving out of state. About 2 months after we bought it, we went to the cottage one weekend and found a notice on the door saying the property was being sold for back taxes! SAY WHAT? Promptly on Monday morning my husband appeared at the title company's office and showed them the notice. They apologized profusely and paid the tax bill immediately. The problem arose because Joel had to purchase both the house and the land, the house from the seller and the land from a utility company. It seems the title company had only searched the title to the land, not the property. Joel had no idea about this, either, because he had never gotten any tax bills. It seems they had been sent to the previous owner who had thrown them away. Whew! What a scare that was.

Mike-I’m not sure your wording equates to the explanation of the escrow account and calculating the amount needed at closing. There is no capitalization of an escrow account. The lender actually uses a very simple formula to determine that there won’t be a shortage when it comes time to pay those bills. In many areas, the taxes paid in 2019 are actually 2018 taxes. In your case, it sounds like the taxes paid in 2019 are 2019 taxes. So by paying in July 2019, you are paying the “current year’s” taxes. If you were paying the 2020 taxes in 2019, you would then be paying a year ahead. How much you bring to closing has more to do with how soon the taxes need paid. You bring more to closing if the taxes are due in 2 months versus if they were due in 11 months.