Learn

What cost basis is, what counts toward it, and what to keep — written for homeowners rather than accountants, with the gray areas named instead of glossed over.

1. 1Do you pay capital gains tax when you sell your home?Usually not — the exclusion covers most sellers. Who it covers, what the tests are, and the situations where tax is owed anyway.7 min read
2. 2You just bought a house. Do this first.Ten minutes with the settlement statement now beats an afternoon of archaeology later — your basis starts the day you closed.5 min read
3. 3Claimed a home office? The sale is not that simpleDepreciation sits outside the home-sale exclusion and can be owed on what was allowable — whether or not you ever claimed it.7 min read
4. 4Rented your home out? Two rules, not oneRenting after you move out generally does not shrink your exclusion. Converting a rental into a home is the case that does — and the order of events decides it.7 min read
5. 5Turning your home into a rentalConverting is not a sale, so nothing is due and nothing prompts you to keep anything — but the day fixes a value and a set of dates that cannot be established afterwards.8 min read
6. 6Selling a rental propertyNo exclusion applies, so basis is the whole calculation — and depreciation has been quietly reducing it the entire time you owned it.7 min read
7. 7Can you save unused exclusion for your next house?No — it is not a lifetime bucket and nothing carries forward. But it renews per sale, which makes the real rule more generous than the myth.5 min read
8. 8Home tax basis, explainedWhat cost basis is, why adjusted basis matters when you sell, and why most of the work is recordkeeping rather than arithmetic.6 min read
9. 9Capital improvement or repair?The distinction that decides whether work may add to your basis — with the gray areas named rather than glossed over.7 min read
10. 10Which home-purchase costs may affect basis?Your settlement statement is a mix of costs that may go to basis and costs that never do. Which is which, and why the day you close is the cheapest time to sort it.6 min read
11. 11What records should homeowners keep?What to keep, how long to keep it, and what makes a receipt actually useful years later — plus the documents people throw away and regret.6 min read
12. 12How adjusted basis can affect a home saleWhat actually happens to your basis at the closing table, where the exclusion fits, and why many sellers owe nothing — with the cases where it still matters.7 min read
13. 13Security deposits, advance rent, and what counts as incomeA security deposit generally is not income when it arrives; advance rent is, whatever period it covers. Two rules pointing opposite ways, and a bank statement cannot tell them apart.7 min read
14. 14What goes on each line of Schedule E?Line by line through Part I, including the costs that belong on no expense line at all — a capital improvement is not one you are failing to find.8 min read
15. 15Rental property depreciation: the records it actually needsYour preparer runs the calculation; they cannot invent the inputs. The land split, the per-asset dates, and why one number for the whole property is not a record.8 min read

HomeBasisLedger provides recordkeeping tools, not tax advice.