Like homeowners across the country, many residents in Central Massachusetts are rushing to pay the remainder of their fiscal 2018 property taxes by the end of this year before their tax deductions are limited under the new federal law that takes effect Jan. 1.

Property tax bills for the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2018 are not due until Feb. 1 and May 1, 2018. But, by paying them by today, property owners are hoping to reap some savings before the $10,000 cap on deductions for local and state taxes takes effect.

People who live in more wealthy communities, where home values and property taxes are the highest, are more likely to take advantage of the short window for tax savings.

In Central Massachusetts, Harvard, Southboro, Northboro, Westboro, Bolton and Sutton, are among municipalities where tax collector/treasurer offices are seeing dozens of people.

Timothy Bragan, town administrator in Harvard, said the flow of people coming in to pay the last two quarter 2018 tax bills “has been nonstop since Tuesday.”

Harvard has the highest average single-family tax bill in the region, according to the state Department of Revenue. Mr. Bragan said between 30 and 40 people a day have been coming in. He said he has never seen anything like this in the 25 years he has been a town administrator.

Before coming to Harvard, he was town administrator in Sterling and Townsend.

“We usually don’t have any traffic in Town Hall this time of year. But, that’s not the case this year,” Bragan said. “I go out and answer questions (from residents) and hand them off to people who can collect the money.”

Paul Redmond, assistant treasurer/collector in Shrewsbury, said that office has seen between 50 and close to 100 people each day since the law was passed. He said the tax bills are in the town system, but the actual bills were not scheduled to be sent out until Friday.

“A lot of people are coming in and trying to pay (tax bills for) Fiscal 2019, which isn’t committed, so they can’t pay it,” he said.

The Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday issued an advisory that, among other things, said people can only pay property taxes that have actually been assessed in 2017.

Tom Sobolewski was among a few people prepaying fiscal 2018 property taxes in Worcester City Hall Thursday. He said he didn’t know the benefit applies to him until a friend checked with an accountant they both use.

“It just seems like if you can save money; if you have extra, you should do it,” he said. But, he said he had heard of some people pulling money out of investment accounts to prepay property taxes, which, he said is not a good idea because of the fees and interest.

Sobolewski said in addition to paying the third and fourth quarters for fiscal 2018, a clerk in the Worcester Tax Collector/Treasurer office gave him the option of paying an estimated part of his fiscal 2019 property taxes. He said he paid what was estimated would be his first quarter fiscal 2019 bill.

But according to the IRS advisory, deductions are not allowed on estimated tax bills for FY 2019.

William E. Philbrick, a certified public accountant who is senior vice president for Worcester-based Greenberg, Rosenblatt, Kull & Bitsoli, said paying an estimated 2019 tax bill won’t work for 2017 deductions.

“The bottom line is if the city or town has assessed those taxes and they are due and owing, then it’s going to work for 2017. If those taxes have not been assessed, it’s all for naught. They won’t be eligible for deduction in 2017,” Mr. Philbrick, a former IRS employee, explained.

He suggested that people whose property taxes are paid from an escrow account with their mortgage holder should contact the mortgage holder to see if they will agree to release that portion of the property taxes early. If not, the property owner can pay the third and fourth quarter fiscal 2018 property taxes themselves.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of people who find themselves not affected in 2017 with the new law. In a lot of instances people are going to find out that it’s not a huge benefit. There may be some, but not dramatic,” Philbrick said. “They need to look at what the future years are going to hold for them. They need to start planning now for 2018, in terms of how the new law will impact their individual situation. Once they know that they can plan accordingly.”

Robert Prunier, who prepaid two quarters of property taxes on his home on the west side of Worcester Thursday, said he doesn’t think the law is going to help people like himself.

“I’m not sure its helping regular working people as much as it does the more fortunate,” he said. Then he smiled. “But don’t tell Donald (Trump) I said this. He might tweet me.”

Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said the new law will not only hurt individuals - because it is “a de facto tax increase for anyone who loses the ability to deduct” - but municipalities as well. The law will make it harder for Proposition 2 1/2 overrides and debt exclusions to pass. That is because the cost of the override borne by each taxpayer is added to their property taxes, which including the state income tax they pay is capped at a $10,000 federal deduction.

He said it is clear the the law was written in a way, by setting a dollar threshold amount, that it would work against higher-income states such as Massachusetts where a majority of voters are Democrats.

The controversial provision of the law also amounts to double taxation, Mr. Beckwith said - precisely what was said would never happen when income tax began more than 100 years ago. He said never in the history of the country has the federal government taxed income on which people have already paid state and local taxes.

“Now, they have reversed course and are engaging in double taxation. And, they’re doing it in order to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 per cent,” Beckwith said.

In the town of Southbridge, which has one of the lowest single-family property tax bills, not many people were trying to prepay their taxes. The average tax bill of $3,575 is nearly a third of that in Harvard.

“I’m sure we’ve had some, but I don’t think we’ve had many,” Treasurer/Collector Melinda Ernst-Fournier said. “We’re not a wealthy community like Shrewsbury or some of the other MetroWest communities that have the luxury of disposable income.”