Where can I get free income tax advice that I can trust?

I have a question about deducting real estate taxes based on information in my HUD-1 Settlement Statement, for a home I bought in September last year. Is there a website or a toll-free number I can call, to ask my questions for free? No offense, but I don't want to rely on specific advice I receive on Yahoo, because I doubt that would hold up in an audit. I just need a referral to a reliable, trustworthy source of assistance.Where can I get free income tax advice that I can trust?
The information is in IRS pub 530, first time homebuyers:.





Deductible Real Estate Taxes


You can deduct real estate taxes imposed on you. You must have paid them either at settlement or closing, or to a taxing authority (either directly or through an escrow account) during the year. If you own a cooperative apartment, see Special Rules for Cooperatives, later.





Where to deduct real estate taxes. Enter the amount of your deductible real estate taxes on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 6.





Real estate taxes paid at settlement or closing. Real estate taxes are generally divided so that you and the seller each pay taxes for the part of the property tax year you owned the home. Your share of these taxes is fully deductible, if you itemize your deductions.





Division of real estate taxes. For federal income tax purposes, the seller is treated as paying the property taxes up to, but not including, the date of sale. You (the buyer) are treated as paying the taxes beginning with the date of sale. This applies regardless of the lien dates under local law. Generally, this information is included on the settlement statement you get at closing.





You and the seller each are considered to have paid your own share of the taxes, even if one or the other paid the entire amount. You each can deduct your own share, if you itemize deductions, for the year the property is sold.





Example.





You bought your home on September 1. The property tax year (the period to which the tax relates) in your area is the calendar year. The tax for the year was $730 and was due and paid by the seller on August 15.





You owned your new home during the property tax year for 122 days (September 1 to December 31, including your date of purchase). You figure your deduction for real estate taxes on your home as follows.





1. Enter the total real estate taxes for the real property tax year $730


2. Enter the number of days in the property tax year that you owned the property 122


3. Divide line 2 by 366 .3333


4. Multiply line 1 by line 3. This is your deduction. Enter it on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 6 $243








You can deduct $243 on your return for the year if you itemize your deductions. You are considered to have paid this amount and can deduct it on your return even if, under the contract, you did not have to reimburse the seller.





Delinquent taxes. Delinquent taxes are unpaid taxes that were imposed on the seller for an earlier tax year. If you agree to pay delinquent taxes when you buy your home, you cannot deduct them. You treat them as part of the cost of your home. See Real estate taxes, later, under Basis.





Escrow accounts. Many monthly house payments include an amount placed in escrow (put in the care of a third party) for real estate taxes. You may not be able to deduct the total you pay into the escrow account. You can deduct only the real estate taxes that the lender actually paid from escrow to the taxing authority. Your real estate tax bill will show this amount.





Refund or rebate of real estate taxes. If you receive a refund or rebate of real estate taxes this year for amounts you paid this year, you must reduce your real estate tax deduction by the amount refunded to you. If the refund or rebate was for real estate taxes paid for a prior year, you may have to include some or all of the refund in your income. For more information, see Recoveries in Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income.





Items You Cannot Deduct as Real Estate Taxes


The following items are not deductible as real estate taxes.





Charges for services. An itemized charge for services to specific property or people is not a tax, even if the charge is paid to the taxing authority. You cannot deduct the charge as a real estate tax if it is:


A unit fee for the delivery of a service (such as a $5 fee charged for every 1,000 gallons of water you use),





A periodic charge for a residential service (such as a $20 per month or $240 annual fee charged for trash collection), or





A flat fee charged for a single service provided by your local government (such as a $30 charge for mowing your lawn because it had grown higher than permitted under a local ordinance).








You must look at your real estate tax bill to decide if any nondeductible itemized charges, such as those listed above, are included in the bill. If your taxing authority (or lender) does not furnish you a copy of your real estate tax bill, ask for it.


Assessments for local benefits. You cannot deduct amounts you pay for local benefits that tend to increase the value of your property. Local benefits include the construction of streets, sidewalks, or water and sewer systems. You must add these amounts to the basis of your property.





You can, however, deduct assessments (or taxes) for local benefits if they are for maintenance, repair, or interest charges related to those benefits. An example is a charge to repair an existing sidewalk and anyWhere can I get free income tax advice that I can trust?
You can only deduct property tax that you were responsible for, and you actually paid. If 2008 property tax was paid in 2008 and you paid the seller your share of that tax, that would be deductible. It is NOT related to when our how much you pay into tax escrow, it is based on tax actually paid.





But it depends what tax year property taxes are due. In my state (IL) property taxes are collected the following year (2008 tax due in 2009). So when I bought my home in May 2002 I got credit from the seller for a portion of estimated 2002 tax due in 2003. I could not fully deduct property tax until I used up that credit. So I had a partial property tax deduction in 2003 and not full year deduction until 2003 property tax was due in 2004.
You could call the IRS and will probably get a good answer. But if you're concerned about an audit, saying ';I called and they told me....'; won't get it either. And you're right, ';susieq told me that on Yahoo'; would mean nothing - and I've seen a lot of bad answers here.
The IRS. The rule on property tax is that you can only deduct tax actually paid in 2008 on your 2008 return. Doesn't matter what year's assessment it is: what matters is what you actually paid.
You can get all the free advice you want by reading the IRS website.
http://www.irs.gov