How record the sale of a second home? Have 1099-S form, per IRS its a substitute form.TT asks Did you get a 1099-B or a brokerage stmt for these sales? Can I answer Yes?

[ColeenD3]

See the back of the 1099-S form.  

Box 6. Shows certain real estate tax on a residence charged to the buyer at settlement. If you have already paid the real estate tax for the period that includes the sale date, subtract the amount in box 6 from the amount already paid to determine your deductible real estate tax. But if you have already deducted the real estate tax in a prior year, generally report this amount as income on the “Other income” line of Schedule 1 (Form 1040). For more information, see Pub. 523, Pub. 525, and Pub. 530.

1099-S, box 6, "buyers part of real estate tax" does not refer to the sale. It is the real estate tax is paid for owning the home and is entered on Schedule A, where appropriate.

[cher1945]

Thank you for clarifying this.  I did subtract this amount when figuring out how much property taxes were paid.  So I think I am good.

[Trekker1]

Thanks!  I'll answer no and use this as back-up if I'm ever asked why I did this way.  

[gloriah5200]

There is no special treatment of the sale of a second home except for it is subject to short term or long term capital gains treatment and sold on Form 8949 carrying to Sch D, as long as it was never a rental property.

There is no exclusion of gain for the sale of a second home as there is for the sale of a principal residence,

[Lalemley]

This was very helpful.  I have a different question pertaining to a few of the questions.  On the 'cost or other basis' entry, what is entered there?  If  I enter the 'purchase'  price of the second home, then enter closing costs, etc into the 'fees not already deducted  from the reported sales price' I get a different result (less capital gain).  When I enter the purchase price + closing costs into the 'cost of other basis' field, I have a higher capital gain.  Which way is correct??

[ToddL99]

To get "Cost or other basis",  enter the purchase price of the second home plus the cost of any improvements you made.

Then, enter closing costs, etc. into the 'fees not already deducted  from the reported sales price'.

Subtracting the above two figures from "Sales proceeds" will result in your capital gain (or loss).

[robjohnson9]

Your instructions are totally wrong and don't work. No matter what I do I get sent to pages for entering a stock transaction.  When you search as instructed you get 8 million results and links.  If you click the first one it sends you to the same instructions from where you started.  There is NO "Other" button which you reference so that is completely WRONG and so I can NOT get any further.  TurboTax is a horrible product and will not be using it again and the support is ROTTEN.

[DianeW777]

The second home sale can be entered into TurboTax CD or Desktop version by following the steps below. You do not use the Form 1099-S as an entry form.

1. Open your TurboTax account > Select the Personal tab then Personal Income > I'll choose what I want to work on
2. Scroll to Investment Income > Select Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other > Start or Update
3. Add or Edit your sale that is NOT reported on a Form 1099-B > Select to enter a summary of each sale (you only have one)
4. Enter the Total Proceeds > Cost Basis (includes any capital improvements while you owned the property)
5. Enter the holding period - if you owned the property for more than one year the it is long term, one year or less is short term
6. Continue to finish your sale.  

The gain from the sale will be fully taxable because a second home is not eligible for the home sale exclusion. See the image below for assistance. Whether you specifically select Second Home is not relevant for the tax return itself.

[mypersonalmessages]

my mother died. we had a tod on the house in aug 2019. we sold the house in may 2020. there was no capital gains, as we sold it for less than it was assessed for at the time of the transfer. i got a 1099-S from the escrow company

1. i went to investments in Turbo Tax home and business

2. i see the place where you fill in the boxes. i know  i fill in holding period asproceeds  short term 

3. what do i put in the other boxes?  the house was assessed for 865,000 and it was sold at 835,000. i had paid the taxes up until the date of sale which was about 700$.  box 6 on the 1099 says 184.07. the realtor took 35,000$ 

4. so what do i put in the2 boxes that ask..  sale proceeds and cost or other basis???

5. also where do i put the value of the house when transferred to show that i had no capital gains?

i am totally overwhelmed. i hope you can assist me. thank you soooo much

[robjohnson9]

There is one important thing to note here.  When you inherit a house the basis for computing capital gains is "stepped up" to the market value at the time of death.   In other words when you sell an inherited house you compute the capital gains by subtracting the value at which it sold minus the stepped up basis (the market value at time of death) minus any fix up expenses,i.e., Capital gains=Sale price - stepped up value - fix up expenses.  From what you have described if you do that math you get a negative number which means you owe zero capital gains.   We reported the capital gains on the sale of our vacation home (which we never used or claimed as a rental which makes a big difference to the IRS and how you compute capital gains) on Schedule D Part II Line 10 "Long-term Capital Gains and Losses".  We put down the sale price as $255000 in column (D) "Proceeds (Sales Price)" as that was the amount on the 1099 we received from the title company when we sold it and then put $225708 (which is the price we paid for it) in column (E) "Cost or other basis" and then put -$26538 (i.e., a negative number) for the expenses we had fixing it up in column (G) "Adjustments to Gain or Loss". So we had $255000 - $225708 - $26538=$2754 so we put $2754 in column (H) "Gain or Loss".  These same numbers were also entered on Form 8949 Part II and we checked box F "Long-term transactions not reported to you on Form 1099-B".  I am not sure what you meant by "tod" in your note.  I am not 100% sure we did it the correct way but I believe we did.  Good luck.

[robjohnson9]

Also note that the $35000 you paid the Realtor is a sales expense which should be claimed in column (G) "Adjustments to Gain or Loss" on Schedule D Part II as it reduces your Capital Gains by that amount.  Any expense as a result of selling or fixing up the property is a valid expense which reduces your Capital Gains by that amount so it should be claimed.  The numbers should also be entered into Form 8949 Part II.  You do not need to fill out Form 8949 if you received a Form 1099-B (which I guess you didn't) and have no adjustments.  If so you enter the numbers on line 8a in Part II of Schedule D and you are done.  However my guess is that you did not receive a 1099-B.  I received a Form 1099-S from the title company when I sold the place which I believe is more typical.

[vickysaiki]

is a 1099-S equal to 1099-B?

[FangxiaL]

No, these two forms are not the same. 

Form 1099-B: Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions

Taxpayers receive Form 1099-B from their brokerage account if they traded stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or other types of financial assets.

Form 1099-S: Proceeds From Real Estate Transactions

This form is used to report the sale of exchange of real estate.

@vickysaiki

[hawk9270]

I do not get the OTHER screen either!  The screen ask me to enter "total proceeds" or " total cost basis".  It does NOT give me the choices outlined above.  I have been through this several times.

VERY frustrated.

[PattiF]

Here is a TurboTax help article with instructions on entering the sale in TurboTax Online or TurboTax Download.

Your basis would be the initial purchase price with additions for capital improvements such as a new roof, kitchen upgrades, or anything that increases the value of the second home.