This is so helpful - thank you!
The closing costs point makes sense to me, as does your explanation of the improvement cost. However, the program doesn't seem to allow this approach.
On the property improvements, you say "I would suggest you enter the property yourself in the Assets/Depreciation section. " The program does not seem to let me do that. When I tell it that I both "converted a home to rental property" and "rented a property for the first time", it puts me through a bunch of questions. One asks for the date purchased, date put in service, and "original purchase price". The next page asks "what was the fair market value". I'm assuming they mean on the date of purchase, not the date it was put into service, so I put the original purchase price again. The next page asks me escrow fees (thank you, I now understand why these won't be included in basis), and the page after that asks "what improvements did you make before renting out [property name]. It has a box that says "home improvements total", and I have put the renovation cost in there. It then asks a couple irrelevant questions to my situation, before announcing that my cost basis is [original purchase price]. It does not seem to be adding the renovation that it specifically asked for. I am so confused on this part.
Thank you again for your help!
