If Donald sells his current house, and moves into the rental property now to make it a new primary residence and sells it in 2 years for $775,000, the total gains above original cost will be $375,000. In the case of newly married couples, this may include additional coordination if either (or especially if both) previously owned a primary residence, and wish to sequence their sales to allow the maximal exclusion (for instance, one spouse sells one property for a $250,000 exclusion, both move into the other property for 2 years, and then the couple sells the second property for a $500,000 exclusion). The special basis rules may eliminate what many taxpayers perceive as a potential deductible loss on sale through conversion by creating a basis in the property at the lesser fair market value (or potential selling price) amount. Individual A buys a house for $700,000, and uses it as his principle residence for 2 years. 651-483-4521 | 800-866-4521 Michael Kitces is Head of Planning Strategy at Buckingham Wealth Partners, a turnkey wealth management services provider supporting thousands of independent financial advisors. Changing your rental property to a principal residence. The IRS defines a primary residence as a living space which you inhabit, but may rent out for up to two weeks per year without paying tax on the rental income. Any passive losses that have been disallowed are carried forward to the next taxable year. The current cost basis is now $171,000 (after depreciation deductions), which means the total potential capital gain is $179,000. Suspended passive activity losses can only be deducted in the year of disposition to the extent that they exceed any passive income or gain. However, it’s notable that if Donna waits until 2016 to sell, at that point there will be 4 years of rental use and only 1 year of use as a primary residence, so Donna will lose access to the Section 121 exclusion simply because she no longer meets the 2-of-5 ownership-and-use test. Notably, the capital gains exclusion is only allowed once every 2 years. Because you converted your primary residence to a rental property, you may have to pay capital gain tax as well as income tax on the sale. As a result, all gains will be treated as qualifying, and eligible for the capital gains exclusion (except to the extent of any depreciation recapture). In these circumstances, the excess of any loss from the activity over any net income from all other passive activities is treated as a loss that’s not from a passive activity. Sign up now & receive a free copy of The Kitces Report: Quantifying the Value of Financial Planning Advice. You may assume that to change your primary residence, you can simply move into your investment property or secondary home and call it a day, but that’s not the case. This is my first question for the Tax Guru. When converted to a rental, the property’s FMV was $460,000. In addition, he is a co-founder of the XY Planning Network, AdvicePay, fpPathfinder, and New Planner Recruiting, the former Practitioner Editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, the host of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, and the publisher of the popular financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View through his website Kitces.com, dedicated to advancing knowledge in financial planning. You converted your Principal Residence to a rental property. Because only nonqualifying use since 2009 counts under IRC Section 121(b)(4), Harold will be deemed to have 4 years of non-qualifying use (2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012), and 11 years of qualifying use (2000-2008 inclusive, and 2013-2014). It was rented for a period of years (during which $29,000 of depreciation deductions were taken), and last year Harold moved into the property as a primary residence. If the property was sold for an amount in between $440,000 and $480,000, there would be no tax gain or loss on the sale. Of course, from a practical perspective, many (most?) Suspended Passive Losses – Former Principal Residence - In a taxpayer-friendly result in Chief Counsel Advice (CCA201428008), IRS has determined that suspended passive activity losses from the passive rental of a home which was formerly used as the taxpayer's principal residence, did not offset gain excluded under Code Sec. What happens if you sell your Principal Residence at a gain that has suspended Passive Activity Losses from the rental period? Assume the real estate market is tanking and you sell for $100,000. In order to qualify, the homeowner(s) must own and also use the home as a primary residence for at least 2 of the past 5 years. To turn rental property into a personal home, you just have to live there a while. For clients who are more active real estate investors, and have the flexibility to convert rental properties into primary residences, additional opportunities apply to navigate the nonqualifying use rules (and/or simply recognize that pre-2009 rental use won’t be counted against the owner as nonqualifying use in the first place!). Accordingly, to the extent gains are allocable to periods of nonqualifying use (gains are assumed to be pro-rata over the holding period), those gains are not eligible for the exclusion. The decision is often made as a result of the taxpayer’s inability to sell the property at a gain or a desire to retain the property for future personal use. The exclusion is $500,000 for married couples filing jointly. The appreciation on that home is approximately $500,000. To the extent that a property is highly appreciated, and there is a gain in excess of the available exclusion. Continuing the earlier example, if Harold had actually rented out the property for four years (2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012) and then used it as a primary residence for two years (2013 and 2014) to qualify for the capital gains exclusion, and sell it next year (after meeting the 2-year use test), the total $150,000 of capital gains (above the original cost) must be allocated between these periods of qualifying and non-qualifying use. When calculating depreciation on a rental property converted from a primary residence, the basis of the property to depreciate is the lower of the adjusted basis or the fair market value on the date of conversion. Income from passive activities including rental Post was not sent - check your email addresses! On … This happens if the sales price lands between the two basis numbers. Contact a member of Olsen Thielen’s Real Estate Group with questions: Greg Nelson CPA, MBT; Ryan Kelly CPA, MBT; Mark Angell CPA, MBT, 2675 Long Lake Road the popular financial planning industry blog, the usual capital gains brackets, including the new top 20% rate and the new 3.8% Medicare surtax, American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (Section 840), Analyzing The CARES Act: From Rebate Checks To Small Business Relief For The Coronavirus Pandemic. As a result, 11/15ths of gains, or $110,000, would be qualifying gains eligible to be excluded (and since that’s less than the $250,000 maximum exclusion amount, it would all be excluded), while only 4/15ths of the gains, or $40,000, would be nonqualifying and subject to capital gains taxes. Example 1. See the field help ( F1 ) for details. I plan to use the property as my primary residence for about 2 years when I live in the area and then convert it back to a rental property once I leave the area. However, the IRS has ruled that the gain on the sale of the house is excluded from gross passive activity income in regards to IRC 469(a), because the gain was excluded from gross income under IRC 121. In 2012, she received a new job opportunity across the country, but decided she didn’t want to sell the property yet as home values were still recovering in her area, so she rented the property instead. We are planning on retiring to Utah, but don’t want to pay tax on this $500,00… To be treated as a rental property for tax-loss purposes, ... You can deduct the cost of travel to your rental property, if the primary purpose of the trip is to check on the property or perform tasks related to renting the property. Their total gain is $650,000, and they have easily met the 2-of-5 ownership-and-use requirement. Generally, passive losses are limited to passive activity income. He will still have 4 years of nonqualifying use (2009 after the effective date, though the end of 2012 when the property was still a rental), but will now have 12 years of qualifying use (2000-2008 inclusive, and 2013-2016), which means 12/16ths of his gains will be eligible for the exclusion and 4/16ths will be deemed nonqualifying use capital gains and subject to taxes (in addition to any depreciation recapture). Live in the property as your personal residence for at least two years before you sell it. There are several ways in which a tax return can include an item which is not passive on the current return, but which was passive at some time in the past. Example 3. During the following three years, it produces $10,000 of net losses that are disallowed as passive losses. Property Rental conversion to Primary Residence and Back to Rental Property I have a rental property that has about a $60K loss carry over. The remaining $150,000 capital gain – eligible for long-term capital gains treatment, as the holding period is far beyond the 12-month requirement – will be reported on their tax return as a normal long-term capital gain, subject to the usual tax rates (and potential 3.8% investment income surtax) that may apply. Special Allowance for Rental Activities. Single taxpayers may exclude up to $250,000 in gain while married taxpayers can exclude up to $500,000. Harold has a property in 2009 that was purchased for $200,000 and is now worth $350,000. When you change your rental property to a principal residence, you can also elect to postpone reporting the disposition of your property until you actually sell it. This greatly limits your ability to deduct them because passive losses can only be ... your income is small enough that you can use the $25,000 annual rental loss allowance. info@otcpas.com, 300 Prairie Center Dr., Ste. A then sells the property to an unrelated third party for $800,000, realizing a net gain on the sale of $100,000 (not taking into account the suspended passive losses). I did a 1031 exchange when I purchased that property. Depreciation recapture when selling a rental property for a loss Depreciation recapture doesn’t apply if you sell for a loss. FS-2018-14, August 2018 People often rent out their residential property as a source of income, particularly during the vacation-heavy, warm summer months. individuals and couples treat their home as a home, and not as an ongoing chain of serial real estate investments from which tax-free capital gains can be harvested as long as they live in it for at least 2 years first (which in reality is why Congress allows such favorable provisions in the first place). If a sale occurs and it has been less than 2 years, a partial exclusion may still be available if the reason for the sale is due to a change in health, place of employment, or some other “unforeseen circumstance” that necessitated the sale. Quantifying the Value of Financial Planning Advice, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, “Top 10 Influential Blog for Financial Advisors”, “#1 Favorite Financial Blog for Advisors”. Though in the event of a married couple, even the full $500,000 exclusion is only available as long as neither spouse has used it in the past 2 years (if one spouse sold a home recently and the other did not, the second spouse can still use his/her individual $250,000 exclusion). The related rental activity was the taxpayer’s only passive activity for purposes of Sec. He then converted the property to a rental activity that was his only passive activity for Code Sec. Different tax rules apply depending on if the taxpayer renting the property used the property as a residence at any time during the year. 469 purposes. This may include having clear documentation to show exactly when the property was used as a primary residence (especially if it may not be the full 2-year period and the pro-rata partial exclusion may apply, or if there are periods of qualifying and nonqualifying use), and also planning around using the exclusion in the event of death or divorce of a spouse (in both situations, ownership and use of a deceased spouse or an ex-spouse can potentially be ‘tacked on’ to the subsequent owner to qualify for the exclusion). I have a rental property with the following situation:-$155K of passive carryover losses-$100K of depreciation taken-$700K adjusted cost basis (purchaI have a rental property with the following situation:-$155K of passive carryover losses-$100K of depreciation taken … Depreciation recapture doesn’t apply if you sell for a loss. To limit this, American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (Section 840) introduced a new requirement (now IRC Section 121(d)) that stipulates the capital gains exclusion on a primary residence that was previously part of a 1031 exchange is only available if the property has been held for 5 years since the exchange. 121 without offsetting any passive losses carried forward. All Other Questions, Notably, an additional “anti-abuse” rule applies to rental property converted to a primary residence that was previously subject to a 1031 exchange – for instance, in a situation where an individual completes a 1031 exchange of a small apartment building into a single family home, rents the single family home for a period of time, then moves into the single family home as a primary residence, and ultimately sells it (trying to apply the primary residence capital gains exclusion to all gains cumulatively back to the original purchase, including gains that occurred during the time it was an apartment building!). This effectively creates an incentive for property that has rapidly appreciated during its rental period to be converted into a primary residence, even if the appreciation rate will slow. In a recent Chief Counsel Advice memo, the IRS weighed in on the proper tax treatment of suspended PALs from passive rental activity involving a taxpayer’s former principal residence when the property … To prevent abuse of this planning scenario, Congress has enacted several changes to IRC Section 121 over the past 15 years, preventing depreciation recapture from being eligible for favorable treatment, requiring a longer holding period for rental property acquired in a 1031 exchange, and more recently forcing gains to be allocated between periods of “qualifying” and “nonqualifying” use. Because you converted your primary residence to a rental property, you may have to pay capital gain tax as well as income tax on the sale. Donna has lived in her property as a primary residence since 2008. We have owned a rental home in Paradise Valley, Arizona for eight years. See Pub 544 for more information. The exclusion of up to $500,000 of capital gains on the sale of a primary residence under IRC Section 121 is one of the most generous tax preferences available under the tax code, due in no small part to the fact that most people only have occasion to sell their home and harvest such gains a few times in a lifetime. If you rent out your property for two years and then move back in for two years before selling it, you must prorate your exclusion because the exception to periods of non-qualifying use only applies to portions of the five-year use test period that occur after the last date that the property is used as a principal residence … In addition, Donald will have been able to benefit from the capital gains exclusion on his prior home (sold 2 years ago), and the capital gains exclusion again on this rental-property-converted-to-primary-home, as long as the sales are at least 2 years apart. Jane is single and has $40,000 in wages, $2,000 of passive income from a limited partnership, and $3,500 of passive loss from a rental real estate activity in which she actively participated. The qualifying/nonqualifying use rules will make the strategy less appealing for most real estate investors on a forward-looking basis, though planning opportunities remain in the aforementioned scenarios where rapid appreciation during nonqualifying use periods can be sheltered by subsequent qualifying use when there is slower growth (effectively shifting income from the less favorable time period to the more-tax-favored one). The property has had a suspended loss carried forward on Form 8582. The so-called passive activity loss (PAL) rules will usually apply. It limits the amount of the write-off, however, and there's no deduction for any drop in value … Example: Joe converted his personal residence to a rental property ten years ago. 300 100% privacy. Under IRS Code Section 469(a), passive activity losses are limited to passive activity income. Under subsection 45(2) of the Income Tax Act, it’s possible to continue treating a principal residence converted to a rental property as your principal residence for up to four years. Per the IRS, e ven if no depreciation deduction was taken, the net profit or loss on the disposition of the property must be computed as if depreciation was actually taken. Converting a rental property to personal use is easy to do, you just take possession after the tenant vacates. info@otcpas.com, Copyright 2019 Olsen Thielen & Co., LTD | All Rights Reserved |, Nonprofit Endowments Require Special Handling, Linda M. Nelson to Retire December 31, 2020, Tax Break on Heavy SUVs Could Mean Savings for Your Business. Example 2c. Since Donald will have 2/7 years of qualifying use, he will be eligible to exclude 2/7 * $375,000 = $107,143 of capital gains, even though the actual gains during his time living in the property were only $25,000. your income is small enough that you can use the $25,000 annual rental loss allowance. How Much Does A (Comprehensive) Financial Plan Actually Cost? Donald purchased a rental property in early 2009 at the market bottom for $400,000, and it has appreciated in the 5 years since to $750,000. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 created IRC Section 121, which allows a homeowner is allowed to exclude up to $250,000 of gain on the sale of a primary residence (or up to $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly). Improvements 100,000. He originally paid $320,000 for the property, the assessed value of the land was $40,000 and the home was $280,000. At Kitces.com, advisors come first. He sold the property in 2015. 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