The amount also depends on the lender, but in general, the lender counts back from March. As of March, the lender will want to be able to make a payment of 6 months worth of taxes, plus have 2 month's worth in reserve. So in March, you will need to have 8 months' worth of tax payments in the impound account. The next example shows how this works.

If you are closing escrow in September, for example, you first payment to the lender would be in November. You would make tax payments in Nov., Dec., Jan., Feb., and March, thus five payments, or three short of the 8 months' worth needed. But, to make things more complicated, in December there is also a payment due to the tax man.