Noticed on my residential closing docs that the seller’s taxes were prorated in 2017 according to the 2016 valuation, even though the 2017 was already published and mailed. Now I’m covering thousands in additional taxes for the seller’s ownership period. Does this make sense? (Texas)

Is it standard practice for the closing to use 2016 tax rates?

I closed on 5/27/2017 and in my proration of tax schedules it indicates that this was done using 2016 rates. Of course I didn't catch this since that's one of those nuances that didn't occur to me as a first-time homebuyer. However, tax notices and the higher valuation were posted and mailed out between April 28 – May 1, so the seller (a professional flipper) likely knew this was going to be an issue, and I'd expect the closing company should have as well.

Is this standard practice? Should my agent have caught that?

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