[GNC] Example of accounts for a personal residence with entries for US tax basis

[Tom Browder]

On Tue, Jul 12, 2022 at 09:38 Michael or Penny Novack <
stepbystepfarm at comcast.net> wrote:

> On 7/12/2022 9:01 AM, Derek Atkins wrote:
> > The way I do it personally (note: IANAA) is that I have an Assets:Fixed
> > Assets:<House Address> account with subaccounts for, e.g. Purchase,
> > Renovations, etc.
> >
> > That way I account for improvements that change the basis, and the summed
> > balance of A:FA:<HA> is my current basis.
> >
> > -derek
>
> This is very much not a gnucash question per se. Or rather the gnucash
> part of it rather simple, just make "basis" a parent with two children,
> one for the original acquisition basis and one for later "improvements".
>
> BUT --- you need to know WHAT is allowed for each of these according to
> IRS rules. The first part, "acquisition basis" is relatively simple and
> probably already done long go. It's the second that is not so simple.
> Not beyond the examples the IRS will use. In other words, what counts as
> "improvements" which you can add to the basis and what is considered
> "general maintenance" and you cannot add to the basis. Thus .....


Thanks, Michael.  Yes, I understand the need for carefully determining,
according to IRS rules, what is allowed for basis. But I'm not sure of what
you're doing with the things not allowed for basis, e.g., maintenance
expenses. (Unless you're talking about an invoice which might need to be
split such as a reroof job plus chimney or dry rot repair.)

-Tom