I have tax assessment paperwork from 2021 which shows about a 3:1 ratio so that is what I used to determine land value back in 1978.
That's perfectly fine and acceptable to the IRS. When using the tax bill/assessment to figure the ratio, I think it's rather odd that the IRS wants you to use the "most current" bill/assessment on a property that may have been acquired decades ago when the ratio may have been significantly different. But it is what it is.
I will go back and re-do that portion where it asks for Cost and then Cost of Land. I took out the cost of land in the Cost line and so put 0 for cost of land
Don't do that, ($0 for cost of land) as it will create a huge issue in the future when ownership of the property changes.
I guess I need to let TT figure it.
You can do that. Basically, the program asks for your tax values for the sole and only purpose of determining the cost ratios of your "real" cost basis. The tax values are not reported to the IRS at all, and the IRS could care less about those values too.
The program takes the total tax value of the property and divides that by the tax value of the land to get a percentage. let's say that percentage comes out to 25%. The program will then apply 25% of your "real" cost basis to the land.
