Additional house deductions?
August 9, 2017 1:48 PM Subscribe
We sold our mom's house and now filing her return.
I mother is living at a memory care facility and we have sold her home to cover costs for as long as possible.
She lived in Wellfleet, MA on a quiet cul de sac. She bought the property and built the house in 1982.
There is almost zero paperwork on what costs were involved in any of it. But we are trying our best to make a list of cost basis items to help with filing her 2016 taxes, which we are about to do.
Pretty much everything is coming from memory between my sister and I. If anyone has ideas or guidelines for things that might help us defray the tax on her filing, we would greatly appreciate it.
thanks,
henry
I mother is living at a memory care facility and we have sold her home to cover costs for as long as possible.
She lived in Wellfleet, MA on a quiet cul de sac. She bought the property and built the house in 1982.
There is almost zero paperwork on what costs were involved in any of it. But we are trying our best to make a list of cost basis items to help with filing her 2016 taxes, which we are about to do.
Pretty much everything is coming from memory between my sister and I. If anyone has ideas or guidelines for things that might help us defray the tax on her filing, we would greatly appreciate it.
thanks,
henry
There should be property tax records that list the assessed value of the house. You should be able to get the property tax records from her municipality. You might start by calling Wellfleet City Hall and asking for Nancy Vail's office at (508) 349-0304. You can also contact her on-line here.
Do you hold power of attorney? If not you will need your mother to make the application for the copies of the records.
If you sold the house for less than the assessed value of the house then there may be a Capital Gains write off that you can use on the taxes.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:38 PM on August 9, 2017
Do you hold power of attorney? If not you will need your mother to make the application for the copies of the records.
If you sold the house for less than the assessed value of the house then there may be a Capital Gains write off that you can use on the taxes.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:38 PM on August 9, 2017
Was she married when she bought the house ? If so, did the husband die (or divorce, etc) and what year ? Did she do any renovations to the house (add a room/story) ?
If just her, she gets $250k sheltered from capital gains. If married (and husband alive) you get $500k sheltered. If husband died, she MAY get some type of stepped up basis (full or half) for the value of the house the year the husband died.
It's more complicated on which renovations you can add to the basis (eg new roof is a no, but new rooms, yes. Kitchen/bath remodel ? No, unless you added a new bathroom. etc)
posted by k5.user at 7:36 AM on August 10, 2017
If just her, she gets $250k sheltered from capital gains. If married (and husband alive) you get $500k sheltered. If husband died, she MAY get some type of stepped up basis (full or half) for the value of the house the year the husband died.
It's more complicated on which renovations you can add to the basis (eg new roof is a no, but new rooms, yes. Kitchen/bath remodel ? No, unless you added a new bathroom. etc)
posted by k5.user at 7:36 AM on August 10, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by tman99 at 1:56 PM on August 9, 2017