@TomD8 - in the desktop version, it asked for the selling price and then it asks for the selling expenses separately . The closing costs would be the sales commission and any other costs (such as title insurance if the seller is paying it, legal fees if the seller is paying it, etc.)
While I agree netting them together gets to the same result, TT does ask for them separately.,
Further, the FAQ for 'selling expenses' in TT states:
Sales expenses are listed in the sellers column of your settlement statement and include:
- commissions
- appraisal fees
- broker's fees
- legal fees
- advertising fees
- home inspection reports
- title insurance
- transfer taxes or fees
- geological surveys
- loan charges (points) or other fees paid on the buyer's behalf
- any fees for a service that helped you sell your home without a broker (listing fees, promotional fliers, etc.)
NOTE:
Sales expenses do not include:
- mortgage payoffs
- home equity loan payoffs
- rent-back costs
- payoff to creditors
- property taxes
- home owner association fees
So I disagree with your response that the sales commission adds to the cost basis. While I agree adding it to the cost basis instead of the selling expenses won't cause the capital gains to be misstated, it is not the process that TT asks its customers to follow and I suspect that means the IRS wants taxpayers to mark the commission as a selling expense as well.
