topic Are the county property taxes, county excise tax, real estate commission, escrow fee, and title insurance eligible expenses when selling a house? in Deductions & credits

Are the county property taxes, county excise tax, real estate commission, escrow fee, and title insurance eligible expenses when selling a house?

gordyjohnson1785 — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 10:41:54 GMT

I sold an inherited property and want to know if I can claim these expenses on my federal taxes this year.

Re: Are the county property taxes, county excise tax, real estate commission, escrow fee, and title insurance eligible expenses when selling a house?

gordyjohnson1785 — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 23:46:10 GMT

I'm the OP. We rented the house out, we never lived there.

Re: Are the county property taxes, county excise tax, real estate commission, escrow fee, and tit...

DianeW777 — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 23:54:55 GMT

See the list of items below that can be considered as selling expenses and those that cannot. Keep in mind that inherited property is always considered as being held long term. Be sure to select that when you enter the sale. If you did not live in this as your main home see the information for reporting below.

Do not use any mortgage interest, real estate or school taxes, local or city taxes. Transfer tax is a separate and identifiable expense of purchasing a property.

See IRS Publication 551 (pages 2 & 3)

Government Recording and Transfer Charges

Recording fees
Title Charges
Lenders Title Policy
Settlement or Closing Fee
MLC - Assuming it means Municipal Lean Certificate
Title Exam
Owners title Insurance

You can include these closing costs and add them to the cost basis of the property as noted above.

Loan charges - Loan charges are part of the loan, not cost basis

Application fees
Lender fees
Appraisal Fee
Inspection Fee
Condo Questionnaire
Credit Report
Debt Report

You can't include in your basis the fees and costs for getting a loan on property.

If this is considered investment property (it was not your main home), report the sale using the steps below:

Under Wages & Income scroll to Investments & Savings
Select Start/Revisit beside Stocks, Cryptocurrency, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other
Select Add Investments or continue to go through the screens to select 'Other' > Continue
Begin to enter the sale description > Under Type select Other > Under How did you receive select 'I Inherited it' (if applicable)
For TurboTax Desktop you would enter the description 'Inherited Property' and select 'Long Term' as the hold period
Enter your sale date and 'Various' as the Acquired date
Continue to complete the screens until you arrive back at the Wages & Income main page.

Please update if this property was on your return as a rental property in 2024. Depreciation must be a factor for the cost basis by reducing it for that amount.

@gordyjohnson1785

[Edited: 02/15/2025 | 3:53 PM PST]

Re: Are the county property taxes, county excise tax, real estate commission, escrow fee, and bleep...

gordyjohnson1785 — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 00:37:33 GMT

Thank you for the helpful response.

Does the escrow fee count as a "settlement or closing fee"?

I see that some people say that the real estate commission is deductible, but I assume that would be if I lived in the house as opposed to selling as an investment property. Is that correct?

Re: Are the county property taxes, county excise tax, real estate commission, escrow fee, and **b...

PaulaM — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT