Taxes... question

I have a question about filing your taxes. My husband and i just built a house and i wanted to know what we can submit for our taxes? We have absolutely no clue and everyone keeps telling us different things. So i thought i'd ask you ladies....

what can you submit regarding your home (especially if you built your house)?

Re: Taxes... question

If you really have no idea - I would see an accountant. We bought a home and I do our taxes on TurboTax, but I have no idea what the deal would be with building.

Re: Taxes... question

Re: Taxes... question

We didn't build but we bought this year and did renovations. All we could claim was taxes and interest. I never heard of claiming renovations/building but I am certainly far from a tax expert.

Re: Taxes... question

usually your mortgage lender sends you a year end interest statement and, if you escrow your taxes (they are paid for by the bank), that statement will indicate the amount paid as well

you don't submit that to the IRS, you just give it to your accountant and/or use the info on it to fill out your forms yourself

Re: Taxes... question

Re: Taxes... question

We didn't buy new but we did major renovations and several of them gave us tax breaks for example, new insulation, new boiler, new exterior doors, new windows.

I would think you might be able to do the same if you used a lot of Energy Rated materials or if you went with more efficient systems/materials. Not sure though.

Definitely look into the materials you used and if you get a break there.

We met with our accountant last week and he asked us a lot of questions about the renovations and it turns out we qualified for every one that gives a tax break. If I can remember it was several hundred if you replace the heating system, a few hundred for exterior doors, a few hundred more if you replace a certain amount of windows, a few hundred more if you replace a certain amount of insulation in the house, etc.

Re: Taxes... question

Re: Taxes... question

If you use Turbo Tax (go to statetaxfreedom.com and try it for yourself, you don't have to buy it until the end) it guides you step by step and asks if you did any major renovations or if you built...and then asks about materials, etc. and costs and gives credits based on that. It's worth it to play around...and I would change my accountant THIS year, don't wait until next!

Re: Taxes... question

Posted by aliwnec10

Posted by ChilisWife

usually your mortgage lender sends you a year end interest statement and, if you escrow your taxes (they are paid for by the bank), that statement will indicate the amount paid as well

you don't submit that to the IRS, you just give it to your accountant and/or use the info on it to fill out your forms yourself

so that's all you can submit... is your mortgage interest statement? That's it?

Re: Taxes... question

There are things you can claim...we were able to claim insulation, window repairs/replacement and there are other energy efficiency items you can claim.
As another poster said, change accountants this year not next - you don't want to wait on it cuz you may not be able to claim the things next year.
Good luck!

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I would never attempt to do my own taxes. I have an AWESOME Accountant and she is worth every penny!

Re: Taxes... question

Posted by aliwnec10

We have an accountant, but he seems to be no help (yes we're thinking about getting someone else next year). I just don't understand how you can build a new house and not have anything else to submit but your normal paperwork.

Re: Taxes... question

besdies what people have mentioned (energy efficient upgrades, etc) I'm not sure much is for your taxes THIS year. When you sell your house - that's when you take out all the receipts to lower your capital gains to the $500K level.