My rental income is equal to my rental expenses but I entered more expenses than income. I'm an active participant. How do I change it so my expenses aren't limited?

[helgy]

We rented it 102 days out of the year as a vacation rental and stayed in it 21 days.  We actively try to rent it every day.  Thanks for your help.

[view2 · Accepted solution]

USE SELDOM, RENT OFTEN

When personal  use is   greater than 10 percent of the number of days it is rented to others at fair market value, your vacation home is treated as a residence. The tax rules in this area are complex.

You can deduct rental expenses up to the level of rental income. But you can't deduct losses. 

The Internal Revenue Service has detailed tax rules governing vacation properties. 

Personal Use of Dwelling Unit (Including Vacation Home) 

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p527/ch05.html

[helgy]

Thanks for your help!  Even if we tried to rent it all year we are still limited to how many days we actually had someone rent it?

[view2]

Your welcome!...The IRS days-of-use allocation of all expenses.

Sec. 280A(e)(2), the IRS interprets Sec. 280A(e) to mean that all deductible expenses related to a property are allocated between fair rental and personal use days based on the ratio of fair rental days to the total number of days used, not just to those expenses that are deductible only in relation to the rental of the property.

[helgy]

Thanks so much for your help.  I really appreciate your help.  Now I understand why it is limited.

[helgy]

What if we went to check on the place, made some repairs and redecorated it while we were there.  Can we change those days from personal use days?

[view2]

"Any day that you spend working substantially full time repairing and maintaining (not improving) your property is not counted as a day of personal use. Do not count such a day as a day of personal use even if family members use the property for recreational purposes on the same day."

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p527/ch05.html">https://www.irs.gov/publications/p527/ch05.html</a>