For Rental Use Percentage, can you give an example please? They explain it, but I'm not getting it. 100% means what? I occupied it 100%, or is was rented out 100%?

[Oleonesole]

It states: Use these guidelines if you occupied your rental any time during the year:

 - Amortize the points over the life of the loan if your personal use is not more than 14 days or 10% of the days the home is rented, whichever is greater.

 - If the personal use exceeds 14 days or 10% of the days the home is rented, then divide the points between personal use and rental use.
  * We'll amortize the rental portion of these points against your rental income.
  * For your personal portion of these points enter these in the itemized deduction section of TurboTax.

But I need Turbo Tax to put an example please.

[Carl]

I can do that. But I need the details of your specific situation, so I don't waste your time and cause more confusion by providing examples that do not apply to your specific situation.

- Was the entire property classified as a rental? Or are you only renting out a part of your primary residence?

- What is the "in service" date?

- How many days did you use the property for personal use, *AFTER* the date you placed it in service?
 - If you converted the property to personal use in 2020, then let me know the effective date of that also.

[Oleonesole]

It was a rental for the whole year.  I (and probably others also with this same question) just need to know what they're asking for when they put 'Rental Use Percentage' and a box to put a percentage.  Even without my specific situation, surely it must mean either it was rented out 100% of the year, or not.  I'm not sure if by putting 100% in the box it means I lived in it 100% of the time, or if it means that it was rented out 100% of the year.  That's all. Thanks for helping me with this question.

[Carl]

You need too back up then. If the entire property was rented the whole year, then early on in the SCH E section you should have selected the box to indicate it was rented the whole year. Then you are not prompted for days rented or days of personal use, and you should not be having to deal with those details of percentages or day counts for anything.

[Oleonesole]

That makes sense.  I entered that bit incorrectly.  Do you know where that section is so I can navigate back to it?

Thanks for that info.

[Oleonesole]

In addition to my last comment, I just went in an found that part that the tool asks me for the Rental Use Percentage.  

It is in Schedule E, but it's actually in the part where I Report mortgage interest.  It asks me if I refinanced the mortgage, and when I selected 'Yes' to this, it then asks me to Enter loan information for the property, and it has three fields, which are the following:

Date closed:

Term of the loan in years:

Rental use percentage:

This is where I'm stuck.  Do I just put 100%?  Because it was rented out 100% - the tenants were in it the whole year.  Or does Rental use percentage mean how much I used the property for personal use? (not sure).

[Carl]

That's for the 1098 mortgage interest.  If the property was rented the entire year, then it's 100%.

Take note that vacant periods between renters counts for days rented too, provided you did not live in the property for one single day during that vacancy "for personal pleasure use" of any kind.

It's not uncommon for a rental property owner to live in the property for a week or so between tenants for the purpose of getting things ready for the next tenant. Especially if the owner lives to far away to be commuting every day. Those are not personal use days.

[Oleonesole]

Thanks a lot - sure appreciate you answering that for me.

[kanewc]

Thank you for this thread and the eventual answer. I just ran into the same situation. The description that is shown when you click Learn More wasn't clear for me either. It would be great if the description could be updated