The home I own we converted to rental in '17. I entered mort. interest & tax % amounts on Sch E & A. Deductions & Credits total values are less than actual, is this ok?

[Critter]

The amount entered on the Sch E + the Sch A should total the annual amount you paid ... if you didn't report 100% between the two forms review your entries.

[asp1981]

Thank you Critter, this is driving me mad, here is the situation: I have the number of days we used the home for personal use (living in it) and the number of days it was available to rent. I used these to come up with percentages for the amount of time the home was used for each. I used these percentages to calculate dollar amounts for interest and taxes under each "status." On paper, these dollar amounts equal the amounts in my 1098. However, under "Deductions & Credits" the amounts shown for 2017 DO NOT equal my 1098 amounts (they are a few hundred short). I checked the amounts I filled in, they add up to the 1098. I seem to recall two fields for the rental property: one that asked for the date the property was converted and one beneath that for the percentage of time it was used as a rental. I cannot, for the life of me, find these fields again, do they exist? I think I mistakenly put 100% for amount of time, though it should have been less. I thought this might be why the amounts are off. Any thoughts?

[Critter]

Go back to the answer and read the second screen shot carefully ... Note: Personal Use days refers to days that you used the rental. Enter 0 if you never used the property while it was rented.

[PaulaM · Accepted solution]

Yes, that is the proper way to report a converted home to a rental. Under the Property Profile section, indicate that you converted the property from a personal to rental use (or vice versa) in 2017. Then continue on to enter the number of days it was rented. Allocate the interest/property taxes between the 2 sections.

Allocate the expenses between the two sections if you converted the property. Ex: Rented for 3 months and personal for 9, then 1/4 of mortgage interest/taxes is deducted on the rental side and 3/4 as a personal deduction.

Note: Personal Use days refers to days that you used the rental. Enter 0 if you never used the property while it was rented.

[PaulaM]

TurboTax will only allocate a % when you rent a part of your home. When you convert from personal to rental (or vice versa), you have to manually enter in each section its share of expenses. See example above, and be certain to mark the conversion box under the Property Profile section.

[asp1981]

Thank you Paula, the issue I am having now is that the mortgage interest and property taxes values under "Deductions and Credits" do not equal the numbers on my 1098. Is this normal? I accurately divided the interest and taxes between the rental and personal (they add up to the 1098). The only thing I can think of is that the number of days the home was "rented at a fair market rate" do not equal the number of days it was a rental (since the home was converted to a rental and was vacant before the date a lease began). Could the gap between the number of personal use days and the days rented at a fair market rate be the reason for the difference in values shown under "Deductions and Credits" and my 1098?

[PaulaM]

Hmmm...How many days do you have for personal days?

[asp1981]

We have 169 days of personal use, we moved out the day the home was available to rent and was "converted." Do you know if "days rented at fair value" only means the days after the start of a lease or the number of days after it is "converted" to a rental and on the market/vacant? I have found conflicting info online.

[PaulaM]

Your personal use days should be 0. Do not include any days that you lived in the home before the rental conversion. It is a confusing section, but the personal use days is referring to any days that you used the rental AFTER it was placed in service (or while it was a rental). Like a vacation home.

[PaulaM]

Ex: I lived in home Jan-March or 90 days. Those 90 days are not entered anywhere in the personal use section. The personal use days are referring to vacation days used. If I never used the rental property for the rest of the year, my personal use days are 0.