It can be daunting to figure out what documents you need to give your CPA or tax preparer in regards to your home, mortgage and real estate investment properties, so I’m here to make your preparation a little bit easier by answering some common questions I get.
Q: I own a house that I live in full-time as my primary residence, what are the basic documents you need each year?
If you have a mortgage, you should get a form 1098 from your mortgage lender showing the total interest that you paid during the year in Box 1. If your lender pays your property taxes on your behalf (aka you ‘escrow’ for your taxes) then your real estate taxes for the year should also be on this form (check out Box 10).
If you handle paying your own property taxes then you’ll also want to locate a copy of your tax bill. If you can’t find the original copy that was mailed to you around September, then you can look it up on the county website by your address.
Q: I bought or sold my house in 2020, do you need anything additional?
Yep! We’ll want a copy of the Closing Disclosure (CD) that you signed at the Closing Attorney’s office when you bought and also when you sold. Your costs to close on the home may be deductible on your taxes whether you are the buyer or the seller in the transaction. Also, depending on when during the year you purchased or sold the home there may be some information relating to the proration of property taxes that we’ll need to take into account when preparing your taxes.
If you sold your home we may ask you for a copy of the CD from when you originally purchased it. This can appear tedious, but please know that if we’re asking for this it’s very-very important. We’re calculating how much gain you earned on the sale of your home. If you sold your home for much more than you originally purchased it for, there are exclusions for the gain with the amount of the exclusion being tied to whether or not you’re married for tax purposes. We may also ask you for a listing of improvements you made to the house during the time that you owned it. These expenses can help to minimize how much of the gain you have to pay taxes on.
Q: I refinanced my house, how does this impact my taxes?
The costs you paid to close on the new loan may be deductible for tax purposes, so please provide a copy of the Closing Disclosure (same as above). If you took out a line of credit (also known as a second mortgage) on your home, the costs to set this up and the interest you pay might be deductible for taxes but only if you used the money to expand or substantially improve your home.
Did you take a LOC on your home to pay off credit card debt or something outside of home improvements? Then it’s not deductible on your taxes.
Q: I have a rental property, what do you need to include it on my taxes?
Assuming that you don’t own the rental property within another entity, the income and expenses will be included on your personal tax return. We’ll want a schedule showing all of your rental revenue and all of the related expenses you paid for the property during the year.
If you made any improvements or repairs that cost over approximately $500 and have a useful life greater than one year, (for example: a kitchen remodel, a new furnace, new roof, etc.) we’ll want a listing of those items and amounts paid as well. Instead of claiming the expense deduction all in one year, we will claim the expense ratably over the next few years that you theoretically use the improvement.
Q: I currently rent, does this impact my taxes?
Nope, renting does not give you any tax benefits. There are no writeoffs for renters like there are for people who own their home. This could be a really good reason to look into buying a home instead of dealing with increasing rental prices on a yearly basis.
Q: I have a question about real estate and taxes that you didn’t answer here. What do I do?
Reach out to your tax professional or shoot me an email at erincoffey@kw.com I will try to answer general questions as best I can. Please note that anything I say here is not to be construed as tax advice. If you have a question about your specific tax situation it’s best to reach out to someone who has all of your details, I’m only discussing general ideas and information here.
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