Where do I enter sale of my 2nd home?

[ReneeM7122]

In TurboTax Premier, type sale of a second home into the search box, and then Jump to sale of second home.

The software will then ask you if you sold any investments in 2020.   Let us know if you still experience trouble entering the basis information.  

[Dianaboston]

Thanks Renee...  But, I do not get the Jump to link when I type "sale of a second home" in the search box.

I just get links to other information, and I never see any Jump to link in my Premier TT interface..  Am I doing something wrong?

[AmyC]

The sale of second home is entered on sch D which is part of investments.

1. If you go into the Wages and Income section of your return,
2. scroll down to investment Income.
3. Select Stocks, Mutual, Other
4. Did you get a 1099-B, no
5. Tell us about this sale. 
6. Click on I'll enter one sale at a time, boxes drop down.
7. Box 1 description Second home
8. continue filling in the boxes.

Box 1d sale proceeds will match your 1099-S amount.

Box 1e cost basis (usually how much you paid) plus capital improvements plus selling expenses

@Dianaboston

[Dianaboston]

Thanks so much!  I do have the information entered.. My problem was (and still is) the fact that I get no Jump To link when I use the Search feature “Sold Second Home”.......   Very strange that the software does not give me any Jump To links at all.  Using Premier on a Mac platform.   

[ToddL99]

You are correct, there isn't a "Jump to" link in TurboTax Online or Desktop programs for sale of a second home. Using the same Search feature, however,  will take you to TurboTax articles that tell you how to enter that transaction.

See:

[fhughson]

I'm having the same issue as @Dianaboston - after answering No to whether I have a 1099-B, I don't get a menu of choices that includes "Second home". (Clearly this was a feature last year.)

I understand that I can follow your directions below, but I thought and hoped that Premier would guide me through the process of entering the right numbers for a second home sale specifically.

[Dianaboston]

And yes, the problem is when you sell a second home (NOT an investment home that you rent out), any loss on that sale is not tax deductible.  However, because TT is not asking the proper questions about the sale (was it an investment property or just a second home for personal use), it automatically gives you a loss when you enter a cost basis that is more than what you sold the house for.  So, because my cost basis was more than what I sold it for, I had to enter a made up cost basis that was equal to the sale price, in order for the software to NOT generate this loss on the tax forms (which substantially increased my refund!). This is really not how the software should be behaving.  Is it?

[fhughson]

I still have TurboTax 2019 (Deluxe), so I did a little experiment. Sure enough, answering "No" to the question "Did you get a 1099-B" brings up a screen where you are asked to "Choose the type of investment you sold". If you choose "Second Home", you are asked for things like the property address, how you acquired the home, etc.

If you've been reading the thread, you already know that this is not how TurboTax 2020 (Premier) behaves....

[Dianaboston]

Wow, that’s really interesting.... And, obviously a problem with the 2020 Premium TurboTax.   There will be many people getting huge (illegal) deductions on the sale of their second (non-investment) home when sold at a loss.  Huge error in the software. 

[LB62]

I'm also intetested in this getting fixed as I am in the same position with a loss on the sale of a second home.  Will someone be making this issue visible before a lot of people end up with erroneous refunds?

[DaveF1006]

Was your second home a personal residence or rental property?

[Dianaboston]

Do not know about @LB62 but my sold second home was a personal residence — not an investment property, and NEVER rented or used as an investment.   TT not asking these questions about the sale of a second home seems to be a HUGE bug in the software, that results in illegal tax deductions, that can generate erroneous refunds or credits on your return. Are they going to fix this?

[fhughson]

I agree with @Dianaboston - the fundamental problem is that TT 2020 is not even asking the questions about a second home (or other types of non-1099-B income). If TT doesn't collect the needed information, how can it handle the transaction correctly?

To reiterate, the issue occurs in Wages & Income > Investment Income > Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other > Add More Sales. Clicking No (in response to the question "Did you get a 1099-B or a brokerage statement for these sales?") should, but does not, bring up a screen on which you can choose Second Home.

Or, to put it a different way, following the instructions in the Best Answer at the top of this thread fails at the last step. Pretty frustrating!

[Irene2805]

A second home is considered an investment for tax purposes, even if it was just for personal use and not rented.  As an investment, any gain from the sale of the second home is considered a "capital gain" and taxed at those rates (which may be lower than if it were taxed as income).  For this reason it is included in the Investment section of TurboTax

You can report the sale of a second home by using these steps:

1. Open or continue your return in TurboTax.
2. In the Search box, enter sold second home and select the Jump to link in the search results.
3. Answer Yes on the Did you sell any investments in 2020? screen.
4. Answer No on the “Did you get a 1099-B or a brokerage statement for these sales?” screen.
5. The next screen is “Tell us about this sale”. Mark the radio button next to I’ll enter one sale at a time
6. On the screen, Tell us about this sale, you can enter Second Home in the Description box. 
7. Enter the total sales proceeds as well as the other information requested.  [See Screenshot #1, below.]
8. Continue to the screen, Select any less common adjustments that apply.  (In TurboTax Online: Let us know if any of these situations apply to this sale)
9. Mark the first box The reported sales price did not deduct all fees or selling expenses.  [Screenshot #2]  (In TurboTax Online: I paid sales expenses that aren't included in the sale proceeds reported on the form.) [Screenshot #3]
10. Enter the sales expenses not deducted from the sales price entered earlier.

SCREENSHOT #1

SCREENSHOT #2

SCREENSHOT #3

[Dianaboston]

Thanks for your detailed response.. however, I think several of us are talking about second homes sold at a loss.....   And the fact that TT is giving us an erroneous capital loss (and exaggerated refunds) on the sale of our second home (never used as investment property).   And with my (and other people’s) TT Premier version, I do not get any of the screens shown in your screen shots.  Nor do I get any Jump To links in the Search box.