Carl
Level 15

Investors & landlords

If you have not derived any income from the lots (empty lots I presume) then you have nothing to report on your 2018 tax return. Basically, you won't have anything to report to the IRS until you either sell the lots, or derive income from them by doing something such as renting them out.

Things like property taxes can be claimed on SCH A. But I think if you do that, then it's not investment property unless you do something other than sell them, to derive income from them. Not really sure on that.

As I understand it, if you claim the property taxes paid on the property in 2018 on SCH A, that makes it personal use property. Then if you sell it later at a loss, your losses are not deductible since losses on the disposition of personal property are never deductible.

Then as an example, if you were to sell the property in 2019 or later, in the year you sell you would claim all your past years property taxes as "carrying cost" for the investment, thus making them deductible from your cost basis.