Worth it to Pay First 2017 RE Tax Installment before End of Year?

[Malcolm Douglas]

I am curious - Living in Chicago, both a high state income and real estate tax district, does it make sense to try and pay the first RE tax installment of my 2017 bill before year end?  I will be over the newly proposed 10k threshold once the law is enacted and therefore unable to make the full deduction for 2018. 

I understand there's a time value of money factor here but curious if other RE investors in similar cities are doing/considering this strategy, if at all possible.

[Michael Plaks]

@Malcolm Douglas

@Ashish Acharya is correct that prepaying income tax will not work. However, I believe you're asking about local property taxes, and then you can and should prepay in 2017, as @Logan Allec said.

The new law will make the old 'bunching" strategy more important: Every second year, you would want to pay two years of itemized deductions: property taxes, donations etc. The years in between you'd use a standard deduction. It's quite possible that this strategy will benefit you.