Real estate commissions

[Anonymous]

Sold our primary home and the real estate agent collected $17K in commissions, can I write this off as a sales expense?

[LindaA]

Yes, commissions you paid to your realtor are a deductible sales expense when you sell your home.

Selling expenses are costs directly associated with selling your home. They include:

• sales commissions 
• fees for a service that helped you sell your home without a broker
• legal fees
• mortgage points or other loan charges that you paid that would normally have been the buyer's responsibility

Note that selling expenses do not include:

• mortgage payoffs
• home equity loan payoffs
• rent-back costs
• payoff to creditors
• property taxes
• homeowners' association (HOA) fees

For more information, please see IRS Pub 523, Selling Your Home.