The cost basis of your home is what you paid for it, plus any major improvements and minus certain adjustments.
If you still have the closing document from when you bought the home, that will have most of the information that you need.
You start with the price you paid for the home. These are things from your closing document that you can add to your basis:
- Abstract fees (abstract of title fees),
- Charges for installing utility services,
- Legal fees (including fees for the title search and preparing the sales contract and deed),
- Recording fees,
- Survey fees,
- Transfer or stamp taxes, and
- Owner's title insurance.
Improvements can be added to your basis as well, but not maintenance and repairs. Improvements are things that increase the value of your home like a kitchen renovation, or a new roof. They don't include things like patching walls and painting, which are repairs. For more details about calculating your home's basis, follow this link.
If you ever used your home for business or rental purposes, you will need to recapture your depreciation
Most people can exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 on a joint return) of gain on their home if they lived in the home for at least 2 or the 5 years before the sale.
**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post
**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"
