Property Damage Settlement Taxable?

[anuj0001]

I bought a house couple of years back and few issues started appearing with the house immediately after we moved in. the issue were related to previously known problems but  were communicated to us as fixed properly during the purchase process. It resulted into lengthy back and forth follow up with seller, agents and filing a litigation against the seller, buyer and seller agent. Finally, it ended during mediation process and with a payout of 60k (20k by each party) . I did not received form 1099 from any of the party involved in paying me the settlement amount

Do I need to report this as my income during tax filing or pay any tax on it?

Thanks

[MonikaK1]

It depends. Whether and how much of the amount of a legal settlement is taxable depends on the type of settlement proceeds you received and what they represented. 

Check the terms of the legal settlement. If you received punitive damages, this would be taxable income. 

Property settlements that compensate for a loss in value of your property that are less than the adjusted basis of your property are not taxable and generally do not need to be reported on your tax return. However, you must reduce your basis in the property by the amount of the settlement. If the property settlement exceeds your adjusted basis in the property, the excess is income. 

See this help article for instructions for entering a legal settlement in TurboTax if any of it is taxable.

See IRS Publication 4345 and this IRS article for more information about legal settlements.

Legal fees related to personal issues typically can't be included in your itemized deductions under current law. See this tax tips article for more information.