reporting sale of foreign property in Turbo Tax DESKTOP

[ks1122]

Hi,

Where do I report the sale of an old apartment  in a foreign country (India) in the desktop version? I found a thread on how to do this in the  online version of Turbo Tax (link pasted below), but the steps mentioned are not the same in desktop. The main thing is that when I try to report to the sale under "Sold something", it doesn't seem to give the option to say "Sold land" or "Sold Apartment". The thread mentioned below seems to suggest there is an option.

The apartment I sold was not a rental property, it was an old apartment that stayed empty for a long time. So it was not a business property.

I did not have to pay taxes in the foreign country because it was considered a capital gain loss due to me selling the apartment at lower than market price. But for US tax purposes, I made a small capital gain, even though the exchange rate changed so much in the years that the overall profit was so little.

Another question I had is if I could write off some of the money I paid to get the house in a saleable state? The money was paid to the contractors and the realtors using bank transfers, but there is no invoice (that is how things are mostly done in India). I only have records of money being sent to the individuals and some whatsapp messages for records :(

Similar thread that I found for online.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-credits-deductions/discussion/how-to-report-foreign-land-sale/...

Thanx so much for reading this. Hope that someone would be able to answer.

regards,

[PattiF]

In the Home & Business version of TurboTax Desktop, you would enter the sale of the apartment in India using these steps:

• Click on the Wages & Income tab
• Next click on I'll choose what I work on
• Scroll down the screen until you come to the section Investment Income
• Chose Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other and select Start or Update
• The first screen will ask if you sold any investments during the year, answer
• Did you get a 1099-B or a brokerage statement for these sales? Answer No
• Tell us about this sale, Click I'll enter one sale at a time
• The drop-down boxes can be filled out with the details of the timber sale

1. Description - Apartment in India
2. Date sold - from your records
3. Date acquired - from your records
4. Sale proceeds -from your records
5. Cost basis - initial purchase price plus expenses that were paid before the sale for any improvements that will have a useful life of more than one year

The apartment sale will be recorded in your tax return from these steps.

[ks1122]

Thank you so much for the reply.

regards,

[shankar_roy]

Where do you enter the tax paid (TDS - tax Deduction at Source) on the property sale in India?

[ialexei]

@PattiF , Thank you for your detailed answer. 
For #5 in your reply, the rupee devalued from Rs 60 to Rs 80.
Although I made a profit in rupees, I sold for less than what I paid if I convert to dollars.
Can I use the dollar amounts to compute capital gain/loss ?

[DianeW777]

Yes, you would use the US dollar amount on the purchase date, not the date it devalued for your cost basis. And the US dollar amount on the sale date for the sales price to calculate the gain or loss. In other words converting on the dates indicated.

@ialexei 

[ialexei]

@PattiF , can you please describe the steps for Turbotax online ?

[DaveF1006]

The steps are similar in the online version.

1. Log into your online return.  Must be in the Premium version 
2. Go to federal>wages and income
3. Go to Investment and Savings>Chose Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other and select Start or Update
4. The first screen will ask if you sold any investments during the year, answer yes
5. Did you get a 1099-B or a brokerage statement for these sales? Answer No
6. Tell us about this sale, Click I'll enter one sale at a time
7. Description - Apartment in India
8. Date sold - from your records
9. Date acquired - from your records
10. Sale proceeds -from your records
11. Cost basis - initial purchase price plus expenses that were paid before the sale for any improvements that will have a useful life of more than one year

Once you finished this, you have recorded your sale for your Apt house.

@ialexei