J. K. Lasser's Homeowner's Tax Breaks : Your Complete Guide to Finding Hidden Gold in Your Home Book

	Preface	xvii
Part I	Sheltering Your Income with Home Deductions
1	Deductions in Year You Buy Your Home	3
1.1	Overview	3
1.2	Real Estate Taxes in the Year You Buy: Get Your Proper Share	4
1.3	Mortgage Points: How to Assure Deduction	7
1.4	Moving Expenses: Does Your Move Qualify for Deduction?	10
1.5	How Should Married Couples Take Title to Their Home?	12
1.6	Purchase Expenses: The Importance of Records	13
1.7	Helping with the Down Payment: First-Time Homebuyer's IRA Break	14
1.8	Purchaser's Tax-Planning Checklist	16
2	Recurring Deductions Every Year You Own Your Home	18
2.1	Overview	18
2.2	Planning to Maximize Deductions	19
2.3	Deduct All Your Real Estate Taxes	20
2.4	Tax Magic of Home Mortgages: Your Interest Deductions	21
2.5	Refinanced Home Mortgage-Watch Out for Interest Deduction and Points	22
2.6	Home Damaged? Let the IRS Help Pay!	24
2.7	How to Boost Your Damage Loss Deduction	29
2.8	When Your Damage Is from a Presidentially Declared Disaster	31
2.9	How to Deduct Your Home Office Expenses	33
2.10	Eligibility of Employees	33
2.11	Eligibility of Business Owners	35
2.12	Figuring the Deduction	37
2.13	If You Work outside Your Home: How to Get Home Office Deductions	46
2.14	How Home Office Makes Commuting Costs Deductible	48
2.15	Deduct Your Home Office Equipment Cost-Up Front	50
3	Special-Situation Deductions for Homeowners	52
3.1	Overview	52
3.2	How to Get Tax-Free Income from Short-Term Rental	52
3.3	How to Make Your Credit Card and Car Loan Interest Deductible	54
3.4	How to Deduct Cost of Medical Home Improvements	58
3.5	Deductible Home Improvements for the Disabled	61
3.6	How an Employee Gets a Tax Break for a "Sideline" Business	62
3.7	Deduction of Fees for Home Tax Advice	65
3.8	Tax-Wise Borrowing against Your Home for Business	66
3.9	Renting a Part of Your Home	68
3.10	Renting Your Entire Home	69
3.11	Your Home as a Retirement Nest Egg	74
3.12	Battling Condo or Co-op Board	74
3.13	Suing the Builder: Tax-Free Proceeds	74
Part II	Tax Shelter When You Sell Your Home
4	How to Sell Your Home with No Tax on Gain	79
4.1	Overview	79
4.2	How to Plan for the Sale	80
4.3	Exclusion of Up to $250,000 or More of Gain	81
4.4	How to Qualify for the Exclusion	83
4.5	Exceptions to the Two-Year Rule: Job Change, Health Problems, or Unforeseen Circumstances	86
4.6	Married Couples: How to Get the $500,000 Exclusion	91
4.7	Is Your Home Your "Principal Residence"?	95
4.8	Your Home Office: Does It Qualify?	97
4.9	Vacant Land Can Qualify	98
4.10	Snowbirds: How to Deal with the Southern Home Trap	99
4.11	Gain in Excess of the Exclusion	100
4.12	Member of Uniformed Service or Foreign Service	102
4.13	How to Cope with a Depressed Market by Rental before Sale	103
4.14	How to Avoid Reporting to the IRS	104
4.15	Seller's Tax-Planning Checklist	108
4.16	Checklists for Qualification for $250,000/$500,000 Exclusion	109
5	The High-Priced Home: How to Avoid Tax When Gain Will Exceed the $250,000 or $500,000 Ceiling	111
5.1	Overview	111
5.2	Upper-Middle-Class Victims	112
5.3	Tax Time Bomb	113
5.4	Tax Idea 1: Deferred Sale Approach	114
5.5	Tax Idea 2: The Leasehold Carve-Out	115
5.6	Tax Idea 3: The Installment Sale	118
5.7	Tax Idea 4: Conversion to Rental and Exchange	122
5.8	Tax Idea 5: Exchange Home Used Partly for Business for Another Home Used Partly for Business	123
5.9	Summing Up	126
6	When Spouses Split	134
6.1	Overview	134
6.2	Don't Lose the Exclusion on Principal Residence Sale!	134
6.3	Transfer of Home to Spouse	135
6.4	Is It Smart to Sell Prior to Divorce?	136
6.5	How to Avoid Gain on a Vacation Home	137
6.6	Splitting Up Marital Property: Beware the Tax Trap	138
Part III	Tax Shelter from Homeowner Loopholes and Vacation Homes
7	Little-Known Loopholes Can Provide Big Savings	145
7.1	Overview	145
7.2	The Super Loophole: How to Use Home Sale Exclusion to Shield Gain on Other Real Estate from Tax	145
7.3	How to Buy a Vacation Home with Tax-Free Dollars from Sale of Rental Property	148
7.4	Avoiding Tax When Your Land Includes Both House and Investment Property	152
7.5	Your Appreciated Residence Is a Tax Treasure: How to Trade Up and Get Tax-Free Cash	154
7.6	Home Improvements: Handyman's Special Tax Shelter	155
7.7	Home Improvement Business: Tax-Free Income for Renovators	157
7.8	When a House Is Not a Home-How to Deduct Loss on Sale of Home	158
7.9	How to Get a Charitable Deduction for Your Home-And Still Live in It	160
7.10	Every Homeowner's Hidden Loophole: Nontaxable "Imputed" Income	164
8	Your Vacation Home Is a Tax Shelter	167
8.1	Overview	167
8.2	Scenario 1: Use of Vacation Home Exclusively as Vacation Home	168
8.3	Scenario 2: Use for Vacation and Rent for 14 Days or Less	169
8.4	Scenario 3: Use for Vacation and Rent for More Than 14 Days	170
8.5	Tax Loss from Rental Not Allowed	170
8.6	Figuring the Amount Deductible	173
8.7	Scenario 4: Rent to Others for the Entire Year	177
8.8	Need for Profit Motive	177
8.9	Figuring Amount of Tax Shelter	178
8.10	Hidden Nugget: A Little Personal Use	180
8.11	Depreciation: The Deduction without Cash Outlay	180
8.12	Tax Shelter Rules	184
Part IV	Retirement Benefits and Estate Planning
9	How to Get Tax-Free Dollars in Retirement from Your Home	189
9.1	Overview	189
9.2	Tax-Free Trading Down	190
9.3	How Trading Down Increases Cash Flow	190
9.4	How Much Cash from Trading Down?	191
9.5	The Tax Benefit	192
9.6	Tax-Free Reverse Mortgages	193
9.7	What Is a Reverse Mortgage, Anyway?	193
9.8	The Tax Benefit	194
9.9	How Much Cash Flow Can You Get?	195
9.10	What Type of Reverse Mortgage Is Best for You?	196
10	Reducing Estate Tax on Home	198
10.1	Overview	198
10.2	Should Spouses Own Home Jointly?	199
10.3	Do You Need Estate Tax Planning?	200
10.4	Larger Estates: How Not to Lose the Second Exemption	202
10.5	How Parent Can Cut Taxes on Vacation Home	204
10.6	Estate Planning for a Parent's Home: Using Sale-Leaseback to Shift Appreciation in Value	207
10.7	How Parents Can Escape Estate Tax on Their Homes: The Qualified Personal Residence Trust	211
	Epilogue	217
Appendix A	Instructions for Form 8829	221
Appendix B	IRS Publication 521: Moving Expenses	227
Appendix C	IRS Publication 530: Tax Information for First-Time Homeowners	249
	Index	261