Investors & landlords

You are correct, there is no gain or loss.  However, TurboTax is not set up very well to report this.

In most cases, the sale of Rental Property is sold in the rental section and you sell the 'asset' of the house.  However, if the property was originally a personal-use property and it converted to a rental property when the Fair Market Value was less then the Cost Basis (usually the purchase price plus cost of improvements before it was a rental), it is reported in the "Sale of Business Property" section.


Go into the "asset" for the property in the Rental section, and indicate that you sold it.  When you get to the screen that asks about "Special Handling", say YES.  Then it will ask you to enter the date of the sale (do NOT enter the sales price).

Now figure out how much depreciation you took on the property, including the current year.  It may be helpful to print out the 'Depreciation and Amortization' worksheet (you will need to pay before you print it).  It is the side-ways worksheet.

Then go to "Sale of Business Property".  If it was sold for less than the 'Fair Market Value when converted to a rental', you would say No, it was not sold at a gain, then on the next screen, yes it was sold at a loss.

However, in this situation there is not a gain or a loss.  To property report this, we sort-of need to 'make up' the "basis".  For your 'basis' you enter the total of (1) Sales Price plus (2) total depreciation plus (3) $1.  Then enter the actual Sales Price and the Depreciation where it asks for them.  That should give you a $1 gain and put it on the proper form (that section won't allow a $0 gain/loss).


EDIT: Edited to add the $1 because the "Sale of Business Property" section will not allow a $0 gain/loss.

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