1) 'Date acquired' - since I converted this from personal to business use in 2008, what date do I put here? Would this be the date when I actually moved out, or the date that I signed for a real estate agent to start listing it for rent? Or the date when the first tenant started their lease?
None of the the above. It's the date you acquired original ownership of the property. That could have been 50 years ago. You could have acquired it buy purchasing it, inheriting it, someone gave it to you as a gift, or some other means of acquisition.
2) 'Enter the total cost when asset was acquired' -
This is what you paid for the property when it was originally purchased. If ownership was acquired through other means, then it depends on the means of acquisition. If you inherited it, then it's the FMV of the property on the date the person you inherited it from, passed away. If it was given to you as a gift, then it's whatever the cost basis was for the original owner.
a. I read the acquisition cost includes expenses. Since this was purchased at an auction, the cost would include the auction sale price. Would closing costs also be added on top of that?
What other costs should be added?
It's what you originally paid for the property, plus any sales expenses incurred such as closing costs. But understand this if you took out a mortgage in order to purchase this property.
- Cost related to acquisition of the mortgage are amortized (not capitalized) and deducted (not depreciated) over the life of the loan. An example of this would be loan application fees, as well as survey fees if a survey was required by the lender as a condition of the loan, and you (not the lender) had to pay for that survey.
- Cost associated with acquisition of the property are added to the cost basis of the property and depreciated over time. An example would be the title transfer fees you had to pay at the courthouse to remove the seller's name from the property deed and replace it with your name.
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/rental-property/real-estate-tax-and-rental-property/L3e09vT71#d...
b. Does this include the cost of the land? I don't see this anywhere on the paperwork from the auction, other than the tax assessor's document that is mailed yearly.
Yes. but how you record things depends. Did you purchase this property at auction in 2020? Or did you sell the property in 2020? Based on the content, it seems apparent to me that you sold the property in 2020. But I've learned to not make assumptions. So if you sold it, where exactly in the program are you reporting the sale? In the SCH E section of the program? The section for Sale of Business Property? Somewhere else?
the tax assessor's document
Under no circumstances and with no exceptions will you use any dollar amount from the tax bill in the process of reporting the sale of this property. If the program is asking you for numbers from the tax bill, it's only so the program can figure what percentage of your acquisition cost gets allocated to the land. You only need the tax bill for this in the first year the property is placed in service/converted to a rental. There is no need for the tax bill after that, when it comes to your taxes.
