I can report the sale of my rental property no problem, but reporting sales expenses are incredibly counter-intuitive.
NOTE TO ME! you have two people sharing one thread, with what is probably two completely different situations. THIS WILL LEAD TO CONFUSION FOR ALL!
I have no clue why you're even in "Home Sales Summary". But I don't use the online version. (I find it *EXTREMELY* user *UN*friendly for situations like yours.) I use the CD version of TTX. While the prompts with the online version vary in their wording, things occur basically in the same order. Below is the guidance I always provide for folks reporting the sale of rental property. It's "GUIDANCE" because not everyone's situation is the same. So far, they seem to work just fine for folks provided two criteria are met.
1) The last occupant to move out of the property prior to the sale was a renter.
-2)The seller did not live in the house for any "personal pleasure" purposes between the time the last renter moved out, and the closing date on the sale.
If #1 is not true, then you can't use my guidance and the sale is *NOT* reported in the SCH E section of the program.
If #2 is not true, then my guidance will start to "fall apart" as you work it through. But if you pay attention to detail on each screen, especially the small print, you "should" be able to get through it just fine - with "maybe" a question or two.
Reporting the Sale of Rental Property
If you qualify for the "lived in 2 of last 5 years" capital gains exclusion, then when prompted you WILL indicate that this sale DOES INCLUDE the sale of your main home. For AD MIL personnel who don't qualify because of PCS orders, select this option anyway, because you "MIGHT" qualify for at last a partial exclusion.
Start working through Rental & Royalty Income (SCH E) "AS IF" you did not sell the property. One of the screens near the start will have a selection on it for "I sold or otherwise disposed of this property in 2019". Select it. After you select the "I sold or otherwise disposed of this property in 2019" you continue working it through "as if" you still own it. When you come to the summary screen you will enter all of your rental income and expenses, even it it's zero. Then you MUST work through the "Sale of Assets/Depreciation" section. You must work through each individual asset one at a time to report its disposition (in your case, all your rental assets were sold).
Understand that if more than the property itself is listed in your assets list, then you need to allocate your sales price across all of your assets. You will only allocate the structure sales price; you will NOT allocate the land sales price, since the land is not a depreciable asset. Then if you sold this rental at a gain, you must show a gain on all assets, even if that gain is $1. Likewise, if you sold at a loss then you must show a loss on all assets, even if that loss is $1
Basically, when working through an asset you select the option for "I stopped using this asset in 2019" and go from there. Note that you MUST do this for EACH AND EVERY asset listed.
When you finish working through everything listed in the assets section, if you ever at any time you owned this rental you claimed vehicle expenses, then you must also work through the vehicle section and show the disposition of the vehicle. Most likely, your vehicle disposition will be "removed for personal use", as I seriously doubt you sold your vehicle as a part of this rental sale.
