Sale of Inherited Property

[melpaw57]

Greetings All.

My question involves Form 1099S – Proceeds From Real Estate Transactions. This involves the sale of my parent’s house that my two sisters and I inherited upon my father’s death in 2019.

I found an answer on another post here about entering only my share of the sales price and cost basis (appraised value) in TurboTax.

One other question, the home was sold last month for $170,000. According to the assessment rolls for the county in which it is located the Full Market Value (which I assume is the assessment) is currently $146,000, and the Full Market Value in 2019 was $106,000.

So since the home sold for about 16% over the current assessment, can that be taken into account when estimating the Cost Basis? In other words, use $123,000 instead of $106,000?

Obviously this is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[rjs · Accepted solution]

Your basis is the fair market value on the date of your father's death, plus the cost of any improvements that you and your sisters made after his death. The assessment is not a reliable indicator of fair market value. Get a written appraisal, retroactive to the date of death, from a licensed professional appraiser.

The selling price has no effect on your basis.

[melpaw57]

Thank you. I plan to proceed as per your reply.