I have an apartment when I moved to Virginia for work purposes. However I was paying on a house I have in Pennsylvania the entire year. Are there available deductions?

[christopher_pavl]

The house was not rented out. I made an attempt in November but was unable to.  I put a new roof on the house.

[Opus 17]

You can't do anything with PA, those are personal expenses and not deductible.  You might be able to do something about the move to Virginia.  Was it a temporary assignment (lasting or expected to last less than one year, and you expect to move back to PA)?  Or, did you permanently move, and was your new job more than 50 miles away from your old home?

[christopher_pavl]

It was a permanent move. It was around 256 miles away but I was able to claim that mileage. So I wouldn't be able to claim the roof either? Or claim the house as a loss for a rental? Even when I tried to rent it out?

[re2boys]

Have you continued to make the house available for rent and continue to seek a tenant?

[christopher_pavl]

Yeah I paid a realtor to find someone this month. The lease will be signed and they will start renting next month.

[Opus 17]

@TaxGuyBill any further comments on the carry charges while holding out for rent (but no rental income in 2016?)

[TaxGuyBill]

If the house was available for rent, you should enter it as a Rental property from the date it was first 'ready and available' for rent, and deduct all valid expenses and depreciation starting on that date.  It does not matter if it was actually rented or not.

[re2boys]

@TaxGuyBill :  Point I was getting to.  To @christopher_pavl :  You enter it as a rental beginning the date you first advertised it for rent.  The new roof is a capital improvement and can't be deducted as a repair but add the cost of the roof to your basis and depreciate.  Utilities you paid  to carry the house from the start date are expenses.
Note that you you will need to file a PA non-resident tax return each year reporting this rental activity. If your move was in 2016, then include the rental on your part year PA return.

[Opus 17]

You can deduct a number of moving expenses, not just mileage.  https://www.irs.gov/publications/p521/ar02.html

The new roof is an improvement that add to your cost basis and will reduce your capital gains if you ever manage to sell at a profit.  It would never be a deduction.

You can't convert the house to a rental and then deduct the loss on the sale as if it was investment property.  If you hold the house out for rental you can deduct your carrying expenses like utilities and property taxes against rental income, but I'm not sure you can do that if you never actually manage to rent it.

I'll double check on the rental expense issue.

If you can rent it at a price where you will make a profit, you could rent it for up to 3 years and still get some tax benefit when you sell.  Or rent it for longer if you are making a profit and the fair market value is declining.  You could hire a property management company.

Or ultimately you may just need to sell and cut your losses before they get worse.