Let me provide some guidance for you.
If you did a short sale, you may receive as you did, 1099-C’s for the debt that was cancelled when the property was sold for less than you owed.
You have three separate things going on.
- You report the sale of your rental property at either a gain or loss.
- Your record/enter all of your 1099-C’s for the debt cancelled on the rental property.
- If applicable, you complete Form 982, the insolvency worksheet in Forms Mode on your Desktop software.
Insolvency Worksheet
You will need to manually make entries on Form 982 in Forms mode and Forms mode is only available in our Desktop versions.
Here are some things to keep in mind as you work on your Form 982:
You have to go into Forms Mode to make the entries in your Form 982, they aren't automatically generated by answers given in the interview process. If you enter a number and it turns red, that means that you are overriding a calculated field. Overrides void the TurboTax Accuracy Guarantee, will keep the form from calculating properly and prevent e-filing.
To get into Forms mode and open your Form 982
After you have entered your information in TurboTax or opened your .tax file (see below)
- Click Forms in the upper right or under the View Menu at top left
- Click Open Form at the left under the TurboTax logo
- Type 982 in the search space and click it when it appears under Form 1040
- Open the 982 and make your entries
When you enter the information, remember that you are entering the numbers from how your life was just before the 1099-C's were issued, you aren't entering information from right now. That means you include the amount of the 1099-C debt in your entries.
Reviewing IRS Form 982 and Instructions may be of help in figuring out how to make your entries. The insolvency worksheet will take what you have (assets including your rental) and what you owe (just prior to the short sale/when the 1099-C's were issued) and come up with an amount of insolvency. Insolvency is the amount you owe that exceeds what you have. The 1099-C "income" will be offset all or in part by this insolvency amount.
