Encore Partners
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
    • Client Testimonials
    • Careers
  • Services
  • Insight
  • Contact
  • Client Portal
  • Client Payments
  • Suralink
  • Menu Menu

Thinking about converting your home into a rental property?

May 13, 2022/in News, Tax Tips - Individual/by Betty Kim

In some cases, homeowners decide to move to new residences, but keep their present homes and rent them out. If you’re thinking of doing this, you’re probably aware of the financial risks and rewards. However, you also should know that renting out your home carries potential tax benefits and pitfalls.

You’re generally treated as a regular real estate landlord once you begin renting your home. That means you must report rental income on your tax return, but also are entitled to offsetting landlord deductions for the money you spend on utilities, operating expenses, incidental repairs and maintenance (for example, fixing a leak in the roof). Additionally, you can claim depreciation deductions for the home. You can fully offset rental income with otherwise allowable landlord deductions.

Passive activity rules

However, under the passive activity loss (PAL) rules, you may not be able to currently claim the rent-related deductions that exceed your rental income unless an exception applies. Under the most widely applicable exception, the PAL rules won’t affect your converted property for a tax year in which your adjusted gross income doesn’t exceed $100,000, you actively participate in running the home-rental business, and your losses from all rental real estate activities in which you actively participate don’t exceed $25,000.

You should also be aware that potential tax pitfalls may arise from renting your residence. Unless your rentals are strictly temporary and are made necessary by adverse market conditions, you could forfeit an important tax break for home sellers if you finally sell the home at a profit. In general, you can escape tax on up to $250,000 ($500,000 for married couples filing jointly) of gain on the sale of your principal home. However, this tax-free treatment is conditioned on your having used the residence as your principal residence for at least two of the five years preceding the sale. So renting your home out for an extended time could jeopardize a big tax break.

Even if you don’t rent out your home so long as to jeopardize your principal residence exclusion, the tax break you would have gotten on the sale (the $250,000/$500,000 exclusion) won’t apply to the extent of any depreciation allowable with respect to the rental or business use of the home for periods after May 6, 1997, or to any gain allocable to a period of nonqualified use (any period during which the property isn’t used as the principal residence of the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse or former spouse) after December 31, 2008. A maximum tax rate of 25% will apply to this gain (attributable to depreciation deductions).

Selling at a loss

Some homeowners who bought at the height of a market may ultimately sell at a loss someday. In such situations, the loss is available for tax purposes only if the owner can establish that the home was in fact converted permanently into income-producing property. Here, a longer lease period helps an owner. However, if you’re in this situation, be aware that you may not wind up with much of a loss for tax purposes. That’s because basis (the cost for tax purposes) is equal to the lesser of actual cost or the property’s fair market value when it’s converted to rental property. So if a home was bought for $300,000, converted to a rental when it’s worth $250,000, and ultimately sold for $225,000, the loss would be only $25,000. The question of whether to turn a principal residence into rental property isn’t easy. Contact us to review your situation and help you make a decision.

Tags: Individual Tax Tips, Tax Consequences
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Telegram
  • Share by Mail
https://encorepartnersllp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Rental.png 292 560 Betty Kim https://encorepartnersllp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Logo_hex2-1030x266.png Betty Kim2022-05-13 08:00:002022-05-13 09:39:21Thinking about converting your home into a rental property?
You might also like
Is your parent moving into a nursing home?
Year-end tax planning ideas for individuals
Interested in an EV? How to qualify for a powerful tax credit

Newsletter Signup

    Connect With Us

    Categories

    • Encore Culture
    • Events
    • News
    • Tax Tips – Business
    • Tax Tips – Individual

    Search

    Recent Posts

    • The 2022 gift tax return deadline is coming up soon – April 18March 24, 2023 - 8:00 am
    • Changes in Sec. 174 make it a good time to review the R&E strategy of your businessMarch 17, 2023 - 8:00 am
    • Do you run a business from home? You may be able to deduct home office expensesFebruary 24, 2023 - 11:18 am
    • Key tax issues in M&A transactionsFebruary 17, 2023 - 8:00 am

    Get the latest tax and finance news

    right in your inbox

    1 + 0 = ?

    Encore Partners Logo

    Main Office
    4350 Executive Drive
    Suite 260
    San Diego, CA 92121
    858.549.7100

    Beverly Hills Office
    9595 Wilshire Blvd,
    Suite 900
    Beverly Hills, CA 90212
    310.300.8480

    © Encore Partners LLP 2021 – all rights reserved

    site design by digitalstoryteller.io

    © Encore Partners LLP 2021 – all rights reserved
    site design by digitalstoryteller.io

    Fully deduct business meals this yearApply the research credit against payroll taxes Scroll to top

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

    Accept All CookiesRefuse Cookies

    Cookie and Privacy Settings



    How we use cookies

    We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

    Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

    Essential Website Cookies

    These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

    Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

    We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

    We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

    Google Analytics Cookies

    These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

    If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

    Other external services

    We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

    Google Webfont Settings:

    Google Map Settings:

    Google reCaptcha Settings:

    Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

    Other cookies

    The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

    Privacy Policy

    You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

    Accept settingsHide notification only