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Mon 11 Jan, 2021 02:15 pm
Not asking for tax advice, just looking to see if this has happened to anyone else after the sale.
As some of you know, I sold the house I'd lived in for 30 years in August 2020, and bought a new one nearby.
Looking through the paperwork that moved with me, I no longer have any of the sales paperwork from back in 1991. I have no recollection of the real estate company we bought it through, which bank, etc. It was so long ago. That boat has sailed.
I contacted the county appraisal district, and they were able to give me the assessed & appaised value for that year. They were the same amounts.
Over the years we did a number of renovations to the house that would qualify at tax time as a write off. However, again, after so much time, the receipts, records have been lost.
I could certainly come up with a fair, frankly conservative estimate of what those renovations cost.
I already talked to my current realtor who handled the August sale. She's been absolutely wonderful. She helped as much as she can, and I am where I am with this situation right now.
So that's the background.
My question is to those who've sold homes in the past.
When you filled out the tax forms, did you have to supply the IRS with your original purchase paperwork, and receipts of any deductable renovations you did?
Or did you just have to report you bought the house in whatever year for X amount of $$'s, and did projects x,y&z that cost X amount of $$'s?
This is so I can further decrease my capital gains tax, after taking off the standard marital deduction and real estate costs associated with selling the house.
I also asked a friend who himself is a realtor, who's bought and sold a few homes for himself.
He said he just always handed everything to his accountant and didn't think about it.
He's awful with financial stuff, never does his own taxes and just trusts the accountant.
I'm very good with finances and have always done my own taxes.
In this case, after 30 years, I just wasn't good at not losing records at some point.
I could call the IRS help line, but thought maybe someone here could share their experience.
Thanks
@chai2,
Depending on the profit and how long you lived in the house, you might be able to exclude all of the capital gain.
IRS link.
@engineer,
Thanks but that's not what I'm asking.
I am asking, as stated in my original post:
My question is to those who've sold homes in the past.
When you filled out the tax forms, did you have to supply the IRS with your original purchase paperwork, and receipts of any deductable renovations you did?
Or did you just have to report you bought the house in whatever year for X amount of $$'s, and did projects x,y&z that cost X amount of $$'s?
@chai2,
I'll also repeat:
I've worked with my realtor on this. She answered as much as she can.
I've contacted the central appaisal district in my county and have the apprasied value for when I boutht the house 30 years ago.
I will call the IRS if need be, but their help line is tied up what with ppl calling about stimulus cks, and the recording tells you to call back another day.
If you’re over 55 years of age you get a one time capital gains exclusion on the sale of your house.
@chai2,
I do not remember supplying the IRS any support when we sold our home. The IRS for most things do not ask you to supply this sort of support, however, you should keep records of it in case of an audit.
I think the easiest thing would be to look it up on the IRS website to be sure as I am simply going by memory. You should be able to find that in the instructions. The only thing I ever remember supplying the IRS with for support was when we donated a car - for some reason you need to send them the receipt info for that.
But most other stuff I have not needed to include with my filing.
I would start here - there is a section on reporting your home sale - I would think that would include anything you need to include
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p523
@Linkat,
Thanks linkat
Yeah, I had looked at the instructions for the (forget the numbers of the forms right now) but nothing was said about supplying/sending info.
I'm thinking you would have remembered sending in the info for that, especially since it wasn't all that long ago you sold a home.
Yeah, I do have a receipt for when I donated a car he had to NPR. It was one he hadn't driven in years. I was just glad they took it away. I was also happy to give the newish car he did drive to the mom of his daughter. Just let her take over the payments. Heh. Actually I learned after the fact that his daughter is actually making the payments for her mom. She's such a good person.
For sure the figures I would use for the cost basis will not be enough to raise any red flags. The married couple exemption, commission on the sale and other related costs take care of most of the gain.
I sold the place for almost 15 times what I paid for it, so the small original price won't raise any eyebrows.
I do know how much we put into renovations I can exempt, just don't have the receipts. That's not a crazy amount though either.
Ok!
That makes me feel pretty confident.
Thanks linkat.
@PUNKEY,
PUNKEY wrote:
If you’re over 55 years of age you get a one time capital gains exclusion on the sale of your house.
That ended over 23 years ago. It's been replaced by a much better unlimited use exemption of $250,000 for a single person and $500,000 for married if you meet the criteria of living in the home X amnt of years. It's allowable once every 2 years.
@chai2,
And it was only for $125,000
@chai2,
the recorder of deeds for your county in Texas has the information about what you paid, Itll be in the deed transfer. Also the local newspaprs at that time usually had a list of deed transfers
@farmerman,
Being a non-disclosure state, sale amounts are not disclosable in public records in Texas. On Warranty Deeds one will find wording like "for ten Dollars and other good and valuable consideration." Deeds of Trust will show promissory note amounts, but those amounts are usually what's remaining on a loan, not the total sale amount.
@InfraBlue,
Huh. I wasn't aware of that.
Good info, so I won't bother to chase my tail.
I honestly feel really secure in taking the accessed/appaised value off the county appraisal site. I know it's close enough. I'm also not going to high ball the improvements that I'm allowed to exempt.
Thanks infrablue
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