Frequently asked questions

A running record of what your home has cost you. You enter the purchase price, log each improvement with its receipt, and it keeps a live adjusted cost basis — one of the figures used to calculate your gain when you sell.

Broadly, an improvement adds value or prolongs the home’s life — a new roof, an addition, a kitchen remodel — and adds to your basis. A repair just keeps things working, and usually doesn’t. The line isn’t always clean: a repair done as part of a larger remodel can count. HomeBasisLedger records the category you choose; it doesn’t decide it for you, so confirm the close calls with your tax professional.

No. It is a record-keeping tool, not a tax preparer or an advisor. It does the arithmetic on the numbers you enter — what actually qualifies, and what you’ll owe, is a conversation for you and a tax professional. See our terms.

Free covers one home, unlimited improvements, and your running adjusted basis — permanently, with no card. Uploading receipt photos, Home Coach reminders, extra properties, and the export for your tax professional are Pro, which is $1.95/month, $15.95/year, or $39.95 once for life. If you rent a property out, Investor is $9.95/month, with Pro included — one price covering both.

In private storage tied to your account. Receipts aren’t published at a public address — when you open one, we generate a link that works only for you and expires after about an hour. Every record is scoped to your account at the database itself, we don’t run ads against it, and we don’t sell it. More in our privacy policy.

Yes, with Pro. The Free plan includes one home; Pro includes unlimited properties — each keeping its own improvements, receipts, and running basis, whether it’s your home, a second home, or a rental. The landlord-specific tools come with Investor.

Yes. Any property gets the same improvements, receipts and running basis on Pro. The landlord side — rent received, deposits held, expenses filed under the Schedule E line you pick, and a file for any year with activity — is Investor, $9.95/month, with Pro included, and it applies while a property is marked Rental/Investment. It works the same on a Pro seat someone sponsors for you as on one you pay for.

No, and it deliberately doesn’t. With the Investor add-on, on a property currently marked Rental/Investment, you record the depreciation class you and your tax professional settle on, and the per-year file groups your improvements by it with a subtotal for each — the raw material for a depreciation schedule, not the schedule itself. That file fills in every Schedule E expense line except the depreciation one, which is your preparer’s to figure.

Open the home, then enter the description, cost, date, and category. The adjusted basis updates the moment you save. Attaching a photo or PDF of the receipt is a Pro feature — logging the improvement itself is free.

When you sell your main home, the IRS lets you exclude up to $250,000 of the gain if you file single, or $500,000 if married filing jointly, as long as you meet the ownership and use tests. A higher basis can lower the gain measured against that limit — which is the whole reason to track improvements. HomeBasisLedger keeps the basis; it doesn’t compute your exclusion for you.

Yes. Each home has an Export CSV button that downloads its full record — purchase price, adjusted basis, and every improvement with its date, category, and cost — as a spreadsheet you can send straight on. (A formatted PDF is still on our list.)

Delete a home and its improvements and receipts go with it. To close your whole account, open the Account page and use Delete account — it cancels any subscription and erases everything permanently, right away. You can also email info@homebasisledger.com and we’ll take care of it.