As we sold household possessions accumulated over lifetime via estate sale and auction, and do not have any cost verification for items, how do we report this?

[bwa]

Were these sold by the owner or by his/her estate after death?

[DS30 · Accepted solution]

You would only need to report the sale of these personal items if you have a capital gain.

Since most household items decrease in value over time, you will not have to worry about reporting the sale on these items. However, for any antiques or high value items, if the net sales proceeds are more than your original cost (plus the cost of any improvements to the property), you will have to report these are the sale of a capital asset.

It is important to substantiate your cost for the high dollar value sales (especially those sales done through an auction). If you do not have any old receipts to determine basis, you may be able to use old bank statements and credit card statements to determine value and when originally purchased. Additionally, if you inherited any of these items, you will use the Fair Market Value (FMV) at the time of inheritance as your cost basis.

Just remember that you only report the sale of personal items where there is a capital gain (Capital loss is not allowed on the sale of personal items). However, for items that were held as investments, you would be able to include both the capital gains or loss on such investment items. The capital gain or loss amount needs to be determined on each item separately.

Click this link for further information about reporting the sale of a capital asset

To enter any capital gains in TurboTax Online or Desktop, please follow these steps:

1. Once you are in your tax return, click on the “Federal Taxes” tab ("Personal" tab in TurboTax Home & Business)
2. Next click on “Wages & Income” ("Personal Income" in TurboTax Home & Business)
3. Next click on “I’ll choose what I work on” (jump to full list)
4. Scroll down the screen until to come to the section “Investment Income”
5. Choose “Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other” and select “start’ (or “update” is you have already worked on this section)
6. The first screen will ask if you sold any investments during the current tax year (This includes any sale of real property held as an investment property so answer “yes” to this question)
7. Since you did not receive a 1099-B, answer “no” to the 1099-B question
8. Choose type of investment you sold - select everything else
9. Some basic information:
1. Description – the type of property
2. Sales Proceeds – Net proceeds from the sale 
3. Date Sold – Date you sold the property
10. Tell us how you acquired the property - if purchased or inherited
11. Enter the date purchased/ inherited
12. Enter the your cost (or if inherited- Fair Market Value of the property at the time of inheritance plus any capital improvements)

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