Rental property

[Tanya681]

My son and I own a rental property since 2007. I have been reporting a 100% of income and expenses  in mine tax return for 13 years. I want to stop reporting it in mine tax return for 2021 and have my son to report everything in his tax return for 2021 tax year. How I should do that and what to do with depreciation.  I do my tax return and my son's in TurboTax.

Thank you very much

[AmyC]

You could each list the property on your return as 50% owner and claim half of everything. I think you are thinking you took the first half and he can have the second half. That is not how this works.

Do a partnership return with the rental house and issue a k-1 to each of you. When you do the partnership return, you enter how much of the house each person owns. Pick up the depreciation right where you are so the IRS can follow the trail, if needed.  See  IRS Tax information for Partnerships.  This makes the most sense to me.

Edited 1/21/2022  (8:09 PST)

[Tanya681]

Thank you for the advice . K-1 is a complicated form.  I wonder if there is an easier way to do the reporting, like I just stop including the rental in my return and start show all the information in my son's tax return with the depreciation where I left off.

  Thanks

[Hal_Al]

Q.  I want to stop reporting it in my tax return for 2021 and have my son to report everything in his tax return for 2021 tax year. 

A. Yes, you can (probably) do that.  When you son sets up the depreciation schedule, TurboTax will automatically show the prior deprecation based on the 2007 acquisition date he enters.  Verify the amount and change it if needed.  So, yes, he picks up the depreciation schedule  where you left off. 

It is not necessary to do a partnership return and issue K-1s.   But, you must have some reasonable basis for the splitting of the income and deductions.  "It comes out better taxwise" is not  a valid reason.  A 50/50 split, based on ownership,  is the most reasonable allocation. But, you can take a "follow the money" approach. If all the income comes to him and he pays all the expenses, then the IRS will probably find it's reasonable for him to report it all on his taxes.

[Carl]

Here's how to do this.

Dad:

First, convert the property to personal use on your tax return. This stops all depreciation on the property on the date of conversion.

I want to stop reporting it in mine tax return for 2021 and have my son to report everything in his tax return for 2021 tax year.

Since (I assume) you have received all the rental income and paid all the rental expenses for 2021, use a conversion date of Dec 31, 2021. You'll be reporting everything concerning the rental on your 2021 tax return.

Son: Will enter the property on his 2022 tax return next year using the original purchase/acquisition date, but with a conversion date (from personal use to rental) of 1/1/2022. The cost basis on the property and all assets will be dad's cost basis, minus all depreciation dad took on the property and all assets.

For the property itself, the "cost of land" will not change. Only the cost of the structure will be reduced by the amount of depreciation dad already took on it. Depreciation on all assets will start over on 1/1/2022 and the property will be depreciated over the next 27.5 years.

To get prior depreciation already taken, look at dad's 2021 tax return. You're looking for two IRS Form 4562's. The two you need print in landscape format. One is titled "Amortization & Depreciation Report" and is most likely the only one you will need. The other is titled "Alternative Minimum Tax Depreciation Report" and if you need the data from that one, the program will specifically ask you for AMT depreciation information.

[Rick19744]

While the responses will help for the current year, you have a bigger problem than just 2021.

You state that "My son and I own a rental property since 2007. I have been reporting a 100% of income and expenses  in mine tax return for 13 years."

Should you win the audit lottery, that allocation will certainly be challenged by the IRS.  You can't have joint ownership and allocate income / loss to you in some years and then income / loss to your son in other years.  That is not how the tax law works.

Whether you leave this problem in the closet is your decision, but just know you have a problem.

I recommend you get some professional advice on this issue.

[tagteam]

I agree with @Rick19744. 

The IRS will more likely than not view the varying allocations as strictly tax motivated and disallow them.

You should absolutely seek professional guidance for this matter.

[tagteam]

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@Carl wrote:

Here's how to do this.

Since (I assume) you have received all the rental income and paid all the rental expenses for 2021, use a conversion date of Dec 31, 2021............Son: Will enter the property on his 2022 tax return next year using the original purchase/acquisition date, but with a conversion date (from personal use to rental) of 1/1/2022.....

---

Even if the varying allocations were acceptable for tax purposes (which they actually are not), the proposed procedure will create a one-month gap in depreciation deductions.

Conversion to personal use on 12/31/21 will result in the depreciation ending on 12/15/21 as a result of the mid-month convention. Similarly, using a "purchase/acquisition" date of 1/1/22 will result in depreciation beginning on 1/15/2022. Thus, there will be a one-month gap despite the fact that the property had been used for rental purposes during that one-month period.

[Carl]

What I'm looking at, is when the sell the property the sale will of course be split 50/50.  My method accounts for the total of all depreciation taken by (what will be) both parties. So long as the depreciation is recaptured, the IRS will not care (to a certain point) who recaptures it. (There are things that "could" raise flags and "make" them care.)

Depending on the circumstances, it may or may not raise flags. Is there of possibility of audit? Yes. That risk may be low - but it's never zero.

If dad claimed all the income, then dad was correct to report it. However, this would probably have been better to deal with as a 1065 partnership if anything, from the very start. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

[tagteam]

@Carl 

You need to read @Rick19744's post in this thread, particularly the following:

You can't have joint ownership and allocate income / loss to you in some years and then income / loss to your son in other years.  That is not how the tax law works.

This also is applicable to partnerships; the allocations cannot be whimsical and strictly tax motivated.

[Tanya681]

Thank you very much for your advise. I will do as you suggested.