[liberalh8ter]

Having dealt with the IRS in gray areas, I seriously doubt they will make a determination before April 15, 2018 *but* they have no reservation about making their determination retroactive. People who do this may find themselves amending their tax return should the IRS disallow this.

[SkyPilot]

Having dealt with the IRS in gray areas, I seriously doubt they will make a determination before April 15, 2018 *but* they have no reservation about making their determination retroactive. People who do this may find themselves amending their tax return should the IRS disallow this.

Agreed. That's why I wrote on my original post that all it will take is a statement of clarification by the IRS - and all the pre-pay efforts will be for naught.

In fact, that is what I am guess the IRS will in fact do. The law wrote that you cannot pre-pay state and local tax. I think that in the rush to ram the bill through, they simply forgot to add the language about property taxes. So we know the spirit and intent of Congress (and of course the IRS) is to prevent a loss of tax revenue with the new bill.

Congress won't even have to act or change the law. All the IRS has to do is "clarify" it.

[Night Hides Not]

People who do this may find themselves amending their tax return should the IRS disallow this.

I think I'd advise a client to roll the dice. IRS may "clarify" the guidance by 4/15/18, but I doubt it. There's so much stuff swallowed by the "gray areas", the IRS doesn't have the manpower to catch a fraction of it.