Purchased home to rent how can i write off my expenses for the purchase and other costs if no income last year?

[jrcouillard]

Purchased home Oct 2017 to rent out for the next 2 years and have expenses to write off, Turbo tax will not let me enter them unless I had income. Did not rent out till Jan 2018. How can I write these off?

[Coleen3 · Accepted solution]

Rental expenses are not deductible until the property is placed in service.

Placed in Service

You place property in service in a rental activity when it is ready and available for a specific use in that activity. Even if you aren’t using the property, it is in service when it is ready and available for its specific use.

Example.

On April 6, you purchased a house to use as residential rental property. You made extensive repairs to the house and had it ready for rent on July 5. You began to advertise the house for rent in July and actually rented it beginning September 1. The house is considered placed in service in July when it was ready and available for rent. You can begin to depreciate the house in July.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p527#en_US_2017_publink1000219036