MonikaK1
Expert Alumni

State tax filing

You cannot take a tax deduction for what you paid for paint and flooring for your personal residence. However, if you need to report the sale of your residence because you may not be able to exclude all of your gain from the sale, you can add the cost of significant improvements, such as replacing your flooring with luxury vinyl plank, to your basis in the property which will reduce any taxable gain. 

 

If you complete the sale of personal residence section in TurboTax, the program will prompt you to answer whether you have improvements to add to basis. To qualify as an increase in the adjusted basis when you sell, the home improvement must:

  • Add materially to the value of your home
  • Prolong your home's useful life significantly
  • Adapt your home to new uses

If you sold your main home during the current tax year, TurboTax can determine if you need to report the sale on your tax return. Generally, profits of up to $250,000 (up to $500,000 on a joint tax return) don't need to be reported to the IRS. TurboTax can figure this out for you.

 

To enter the sale of a personal residence in TurboTax Online:

 

  • Click on Federal Taxes
  • Click on Wages and Income
  • Scroll down to Less Common Income
  • On Sale of Home (gain or loss), click the start or update button

If your gain on the sale will be less than the applicable limit, and if it was never used for business or as a rental, and you didn't receive a Form 1099-S, you don't need to report the sale on your return at all. Not having to report the sale could save you from needing to upgrade your TurboTax product.

 

See this article for more information on determining the gain on the sale of your home.

 

Regarding the discount on a second state:

 

Some discounts are automatically applied if you file your return within specified dates. If you are asking instead about a discount coupon code or service code you have received and need to redeem, see this help article.

 

@mjckhc 

 

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