How to report sold land

[Carl]

e what is called an installment sale. You have numerous choices on how to handle it with TurboTax, and the program will walk you through it. In the process of entering your data into the TTX program you will be asked on one of the screens if this is an installment sale. Select the option to indicate it is an installment sale, and press on.

Also, keep all of your paperwork on this. Based solely on my own personal experience and observations of others who have done a seller financed loan, self-financed installment sales have a high failure rate. Chances of your having to foreclose on the sale in the first 2 years is more than 95% possible. In the first 5 years it's more than 99% possible. Hopefully all your paperwork was done in accordance with local, state and federal laws so that when the time to foreclose comes, the legal process will be quick.

[JnJ1]

Thanks Carl! Yes, our sale was handled by our attorney in NC, all legal with foreclosure statements. The couple have been paying ahead of schedule and will be pay the balance off with their income tax return. If not, they can keep making the payments or we will foreclose! We don’t expect issues with them as they are already drafting their house plans. 

[Carl]

Issues are never expected. If they were, you wouldn't seller finance. But things happen. Job loss. Death in the family, Or something else totally unexpected.

[Liz5775]

I sold raw land.  This land is not part of my resident. This raw land dates back to 2005.  I need to know where does the sold price go in Turbo Tax.

[PattiF]

The sale of land is listed as investment income. 

Please follow the following steps to record the sale in TurboTax: 

Click on Federal > Wages & Income

1.  

• 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 land sale

1. Description - Land with general location or address
2. Date sold - your records
3. Date acquired - from your records
4. Cost basis - cost of the land plus expenses from the settlement statement 

The expenses below are added to the basis. Just because something was on the closing statement, it doesn't mean that you can include it.

• Title fees
• real estate commissions
• documentary stamps
• credit report costs
• costs of an abstract
• transfer taxes
• home inspection
• flood certificate
• attorney fees, etc.  

@Liz5775