rental property

[Mae C]

I retired and received SS benefits. My rental real estate property located in the same state had a very little loss, when I file fed tax return, can I skip the real estate rental portion?  As you know the filing process is tedious. I am trying to make the filing process simple and short. 

[tagteam]

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@Mae C wrote:

......can I skip the real estate rental portion? 

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No, you should continue to report all of your rental income and expenses.

[Denisev1220 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for participating in today's event. You want to keep tracking your rental. First off, you get depreciation each year.  If you don't use the benefit, you will still have to pay taxes on what you could have taken. Another consideration: If you are still making mortgage payments, the IRS sees you are paying on a previous rental and not claiming possible income. Even though you have a loss, they don't know that.

What happens if you never took depreciation on a property and then sold it?

IRS Code Section 1250 states that depreciation must be recaptured if it is allowable for the property. So, even if you don't claim depreciation for the years you owned the property, you'll still have to pay tax on the gain when you decide to sell.

Also, if you ever sell the rental and had carryover losses, you could take them against the gain and save taxes.

[marctu · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your question Mae C.    Unfortunately in your case this rule applies: all rental income must be reported on your tax return, and in general the associated expenses can be deducted from your rental income.

See:

 https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/tips-on-rental-real-estate-income-dedu....

[JohnJ4]

Great Question!  No yo have to continue to report the Income and expense from your rental property per the 

 IRS Requirements.  I know it can be complex but Turbo Tax is here to assist you with all your tax questions . feel free to contact us should you need assistance with input of your rental property income and expense.