Dan Zoll wrote:

- quote -

Read through Pub 523 (easily found at www.irs.gov).

While every expense for rental property gets accounted for
(i.e. maintenance and minor repairs deducted each year,
major renovations ammortized), the expenses for sale of
primary residence are limted. The major add-ons are added to
the cost basis, but repairs to bring the house back to
normal conditions are not. It's presumed a house will be
painted every so often, so painting it to make it more
saleable is not an expense of the sale (for example). The
'junk' shouldn't have been there anyway, no help from the
IRS.

Now, keep in mind, there's the $250K exclusion on the sale,
up to $250K in gain is not taxable to your aunt. Also, if
she had a husband, his half of the house gets a stepped up
basis on the date of his death. Again, pub 523 makes this
all clear.

JOE

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"Dan Zoll" <d.zoll[at]att.net> wrote:

- quote -

No.

--
David M. Woods, EA, ChFC, CLU
Woods Financial Services
Norwood, MA 02062
www.woods-financial.com

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Dan Zoll wrote:

- quote -

Out-of-pocket expenses of cleaning up and staging the house
for sale would be legitimate selling expenses. Not your time
or personal labor, though.

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2005) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

We are putting my aunts house up for sale, (she is in a
nursing home). Can the expense of cleaning out accumulated
junk in an house be considered as a Selling Expense?

Dan Zoll

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2005) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >