2007-06-19 04:23:07 · 8 answers · asked by jojo 3 in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
Not if it is your primary residence, if it is an income property you can. It really depends on the laws of your state to be sure. Consult a tax preparer to be safe and get all of your entitled write offs.
2007-06-19 04:31:39 · answer #1 · answered by Hot Coco Puff 7 · 8⤊ 3⤋
Generally not regular maintenance. You don't really deduct the expenses. You add the cost of the improvement to the basis. Let's say you spent $100K for a home and over the years you put in an alarm system for $5K and a new roof for $10K. If you sell the house for $200K, instead of paying capital gains on $100K profit, you add $15K to the basis and only pay tax on $85K.
2007-06-19 11:34:08 · answer #2 · answered by Sam G 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Improvements, yes, maintenance, no.
But if you've lived in your home as your primary residence for at least two of the five years immediately before the sale, and owned it for two of those same five years, you can exclude up to $250,000 of the gain ($500K on a joint return) from being taxed as long as you haven't taken the exclusion in the last 2 years.
2007-06-19 11:35:13 · answer #3 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can subtract the cost of improvements from the profit you make by selling the home. But you're only going to be taxed if you made more than a $250,000 profit anyway ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly).
2007-06-19 11:28:29 · answer #4 · answered by Eric in Philly 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No they are added to the basis (cost) of the property reducing your gain upon sale. If this was an investment property then these items should have been expensed (maintenance) or capitalized and depreciated (improvements) in the year in which they were incurred.
2007-06-19 12:01:26 · answer #5 · answered by mac hockey 74 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Improvement impacts the original price of the home; maintenance does not.
2007-06-19 11:26:29 · answer #6 · answered by merrybodner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no.
They would increase the basis of your home. That means that when you sell your home, the capital gain realized is less than the selling price - the buying price. But unless you made massive $$$, you don't recognize(i.e. have to pay) any capital gains on your home when selling it.
Essentially, those expenses reduce the gain that you don't have to pay taxes on to begin with.
2007-06-19 11:30:54 · answer #7 · answered by Flyer 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you should have written them off the year you did them.
2007-06-19 11:26:21 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋