Inherited land

[89Gopher]

My grandmother died in 2000.  No will.  Children refused to settle estate.  My mother died 2002.  Still refused to settle estate.  We have now sold land.  Is the basis the amount I received for the sale since I never owned it?

[Anonymous_]

Did you inherit the land from your mother? 

How did you come into possession of the land? How did you manage to sell land you did not own?

[89Gopher]

The heirs agreed upon settling the estate and consulted with lawyer and wen from there.

[Anonymous_]

The basis of property acquired from a decedent is its fair market value on the date of death of that decedent.

That is the general rule, but there are exceptions. 

[fanfare]

It's pretty difficult to know the value of land in 2002 if no appraisal was conducted at that time.

Or maybe you have a good idea what it was worth.

If you use the current sell price or slightly below, you should have no issues with IRS.

Report your sale on Form 8949 page 2; inherited property always has a Long Term holding period.

[Opus 17]

The basis is the fair market value on the date of the death of the previous owner, even if no one bothered to clear the title.  You can get probably a retroactive appraisal from a qualified appraiser in the area because they can use historical data on similar property.  (Unimproved land is pretty easy to value, actually, as long as the zoning didn't change at some point.)

Divide the basis by the number of heirs.  Divide the selling price by the same.  That's your basis, your selling price, and your taxable gain.