Yes. That's true. Rental property passive losses that are not deductible right away are called suspended passive losses. These deductions are not lost forever. Rather, they are carried forward indefinitely until either of two things happen:
- you have rental income (or other passive income) you can deduct them against, or
- you dispose of your entire interest in the property.
The tax rules provide that you may deduct your suspended passive losses from the profit you earn when you sell your rental property. To take this deduction, you must sell "substantially all" of your rental activity. If you own only one rental property and sell it, then you can take the deduction because that property is your entire rental activity. The same holds true if you own several properties and treat them each as separate activities for tax purposes. However, many landlords with multiple properties elect to combine them as one activity for tax purposes. In this event, if you own several rental properties and only sell one, you can't take the deduction because you won't have sold "substantially all" of your interest in your rental activity.
In addition, you must sell the property to an unrelated party—that is, a person other than your spouse, brothers, sisters, ancestors (parents, grandparents), lineal descendants (children, grandchildren), or a corporation or partnership in which you own more than 50%. And, the sale must be a taxable event—that is you must recognize income or loss for tax purposes. This means tax-deferred Section 1031 exchanges don’t count, except to the extent you recognize any taxable income. (I.R.C. §469(g).)
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