Part time condo rental expenses

[DonnR]

The past few years we used our condo as our primary residence (and lived there for part of the year), and available to rent the rest of the year (we spend half the year in CO and half in CA at the condo). Due to construction on the building, the fire marshal closed it for much of the rental period. I’ve put in the number of days we stayed in the unit and the actual rental days during which time we incurred expenses in repairs to the unit, utilities, and cleaning. However, TurboTax is showing that we can’t count any of those expenses as pertaining to the rental, even though that’s when we incurred them. It’s also showing we can’t deduct any of the insurance, depression, legal fees and a few others. Is this correct? If not, what are we doing incorrectly that is preventing TurboTax from including them? Thanks.

[RobertB4444]

The repair and improvement expenses from the period where the property was not available for rent need to be capitalized.  Add them all up and enter them as a new asset with the rental property.

@DonnR 

[DonnR]

Thanks Robert. I understand that, but what about the other expenses such as insurance, cleaning for the short-term renters, utilities, and supplies? In the expenses overview, TurboTax is showing $0 for all of those costs for the rental even though the rental period existed for 180 days. Should the "days rented at a fair rental price" be the actual days rented, or the days available to be rented?

[RobertB4444]

It should be "days available for rent".

And if you had short term rentals that counts!

@DonnR 

[DonnR]

Great. Thanks Robert. That helps.

[DonnR]

Argg. Even after changing the rental available days to 180, when I display the side-by-side differences from 2023, TurboTax is still showing $0 expenses in 2024 for insurance, supplies, utilities, and repairs even though I've entered them into my expenses. I've quit the software and re-loaded in case there were new forms, but still can't figure out what's going on to prevent the expenses from showing up for 2024.

[DawnC · Accepted solution]

Have you entered the rental income yet?  If the home is considered a residence, the expenses you deduct can’t be more than the rental income. If the home isn’t a residence, the expenses you deduct can be more than rental income. However, your loss would be limited by the passive-activity rules.

[DonnR]

Thank you Dawn. That explains it.