AboutHelen P. O`Planick, EA Expertise I am a tax professional, with experience in individual taxation. I would prefer not to answer questions about non-resident aliens or corporate taxation. Please do not ask me state related questions, unless the state is Pennsylvania. There are 42 taxing states and 42 TOTALLY different sets of state tax law.
Experience I have been preparing tax returns almost all my life. I have been in professional practice for 25 years and I am enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.
Organizations National Association of Enrolled Agents
Publications I am a prior Money Magazine Tax Test taker and have been quoted extensively in all media including monthly periodicals and books by tax authorities.
Question QUESTION: Hi, thank you for your help in advance. Both my parents have passed and in the will it stated that the house was to be sold and the profits were to be divided three ways among the siblings. My share is approximately 60,000 and I was told that I should claim this inheritance as a loss. I don't understand and how would I claim this on my taxes? Thank you.
ANSWER: How much was the house worth when they passed away? And did you sell it or did the estate sell it?
Helen, EA in PA
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QUESTION: Good morning, the house was worth somewhere in the ballpark of 280,000..but sold for about 200,000. It was a private sale, not an estate sale. Thank you.
Answer If you did not sell it to a relative or closely related party, and the date of death value was 280K and the family got 200K, you do have a deductible loss of $2,400, but you need to have real numbers and you cannot have lived in the home for 2 out of the last 5 years.
You need the appraisal for date of death value and you need a copy of the closing papers. And I'm assuming you all took title to the home BEFORE the sale.
