Do I need to report my home sale if my real estate agent doesn't have a 1099-S for me? I asked her, but she said her office does one for their gains for the whole year.

[Carl]

The 1099-S is not a requirement. If this was the sale of your primary residence, then just report it under the Personal Income tab in the Sale of Home (Gain or Loss) section, when you get to that point in the program.

[e-c-butler]

Thank you. I started to do this, and now TurboTax wants me to upgrade to premier. I have Deluxe currently.

[Carl]

Was the property sold at a gain? Did you ever at any time while you owned it, claim "any" home office expenses or business use for "any" part of the home?

[e-c-butler]

I have never claimed business or office use, and yes, we sold it for a small profit. We lived there for approx.. 5 years as primary residence.

[Carl]

@TaxGuyBill if the gain was less than $250K ($500K for MFJ) do they still need to report this sale? I'm not sure.

[e-c-butler]

fyi, the gain was far less than 250k, and we are MFJ

[Carl]

The rule is, if you lived in the property as your primary residence for at least two of the last five years you owned it, then for MFS the first $250K is exempt from capital gains. If filing MFJ then the first $500K is exempt. Since you are well below that, I'm questioning if you even have to report the sale. I think you do. But if not, that would be nice to know so you don't have to deal with it, if not required.

[e-c-butler]

Thank you, Carl. I appreciate your advice.

[TaxGuyBill · Accepted solution]

It sounds like you don't need to report it at all.

From Publication 523:

Determine whether you need to report the gain from your home.

You need to report the gain if ANY of the following is true.

• You have taxable gain on your home sale (or on the residential portion of your property if you made separate calculations for home and business) and don’t qualify to exclude.

• You received a Form 1099-S. If so, you must report the sale even if you have no taxable gain to report.

• You wish to report your gain as a taxable gain even though some or all of it is eligible for exclusion. You may wish to do this if, for example, you plan to sell another property that qualifies as a home within the next two years, and that property is likely to have a larger gain. If you choose to report, rather than exclude, your taxable gain, you can go back later and undo that choice by filing an amended return, but only within 3 calendar years after the year of sale.

If NONE of the three bullets above is true, you don’t need to report your home sale on your tax return. If you didn’t make separate home and business calculations on your property, skip to Reporting Deductions Related to Your Home Sale , later.

If ANY of the three bullets above is true, skip to Determine whether your home sale is an installment sale , later.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p523#en_US_2016_publink100011876

[Carl]

Thanks Bill!

[e-c-butler]

Thanks! Should I wait a little bit before filing just to make sure no 1099-S form comes to my door, or can I file now? If one does come later, which I don't think it will, can I just include it in an amendment? Thanks!

[TaxGuyBill]

Personally, I would wait.  They have until today to mail it.

However, you should look through your closing paperwork.  The sometimes up the 1099-S in there.  Also, there is usually a form that you signed in connection with the 1099-S.  That form has a few options, and you needed to check one of them.  One of the options basically says your gain in the house can be fully excluded.  If you checked that one, they don't need to send out a 1099-S.  If you checked one of the other ones, they are usually required to file out a 1099-S.

[e-c-butler]

I went through the paperwork in the folder they gave us for the sale, but I did not see any 1099-S form or anything we signed about tax options.