Tax for a rental house that was later sold out

[ethanyizheng]

Dear Sir,

I spent around $3000 to clean and fix my house in Maryland after the  tenant moved out from the house in March 2018.  I put it back to rental market but failed to have it rent out.  So in May 2018 we put the house into sale market and the house was sold in this month.   

So my questions are

1) Should I claim the $3000 repair fee as the cost of house rental for 2018 tax return, or  claim the  repair fee as the cost of house sale for 2019 tax return ?

2) What about the house property tax I paid  and utility cost (>$1500) in 2018 (no body live there since the tenant moved out in March 2018?  Can I claim those as cost for tax return?

Thank you very much.

Ethan

[JulieR · Accepted solution]

The $3000 you paid to clean and fix up the house can be claimed on Schedule E as an expense of the rental because you technically still held it out as a rental until May 2018, when you listed it for sale. And you may make an allocation of the property tax and utility costs incurred up to the time you listed it and also deduct them on Schedule E.  The remaining property tax can then be claimed as an itemized deduction on Schedule A of your return if you itemize your deductions.

Please comment if you need additional help with this.

[ethanyizheng]

Thank you very much.  One more question:  Can I think that the utility cost for the period after I put my house into market (no body live there) as the cost of house sale and claimed as an itemized deduction from the house sale profit on Schedule D?  Thanks again.

[JulieR]

No, unfortunately, sales expenses cannot include utilities.