הטבות מס-תיקונים לבית לשנת 2012
Question: I just bought a house and I am remodeling. This is a primary residence. Which of my expenses around remodeling is tax deductible and in what conditions? E.g there used to be a credit for high efficacy furnace. Is it still applicable in 2012? What about replacing the roof, floor, bathrooms and so forth? Is it also deductible from any gain I make on the house when selling?
Question: I just bought a house and I am remodeling. This is a primary residence. Which of my expenses around remodeling is tax deductible and in what conditions? E.g there used to be a credit for high efficacy furnace. Is it still applicable in 2012? What about replacing the roof, floor, bathrooms and so forth? Is it also deductible from any gain I make on the house when selling?
Dear reader. Your questions relate to
issues that are important to many of us.
Remodeling and fixing expenses for
your personal residence are usually not deductible on your annual taxes. In 2011,
(assuming you were a Washington resident) you could have deducted the sales tax
(but not the expenses themselves) on home improvements if you itemized deductions.
Most people who owned a residence, itemized deductions (on Schedule A) and benefited
from the deduction. At this point congress did not extend this deduction for
2012.
In 2011 you could also have benefited
from a tax credit (which saves a dollar for dollar against your taxes) if you installed
energy efficient items such windows, skylights, insulation and furnaces. Unfortunately
the congress did not yet extend these credits for 2012 either.
In the future, congress may extend the
sales tax deduction and/or the energy credits for 2012. Such extensions are usually part of much bigger
packages that cover multiple funding needs.
There is another class of energy
efficient improvements that is still entitled to energy credit for 2012, such
as Geothermal Heat Pumps, Small Wind Turbines and Solar Systems. This would probably
not be applicable to most of us.
The best way stay informed in the area
of energy credits is to follow the “Energy Star” web site. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index
Improvements you make to your residence
will reduce the gain when you sell it. It
is possible that you will never have to pay any tax on the gain. There is an
exclusion of $500,000 for a married couple (under certain conditions) of the
gain when selling a personal residence. In any case, keep all receipts for improvements
as long as you own the house.
Until we hear more from congress, you will probably
have to make remodeling decisions based only on your budget and the best use for
your family. Any tax benefits (if extended later) will only be the icing on the
cake.
Sincerely,
Josh Yeyni
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