Re: Income tax on sale of house?
Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 12:13 am
I bought the house in 2017 when it was twenty years old. I never took advantage of any "mortgage deduction"....is this only for new builds?ClearAsMud wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:04 pmI'll add a clarification here, along with the usual caveat that I'm no expert. The main reason to worry about choosing between these two deductions is if you've taken out a loan to buy a new house the same year you want to use the special deduction for capital gains. If you choose the capital-gains deduction for that year, you lose the entire mortgage deduction on your loan, so you'd need to do a comparison to see which deduction is more favorable. Also, if you are still taking the mortgage deduction on the previous house, there is apparently an amending procedure to go through to be able to use the capital-gains deduction for the year of sale. Ask the tax office for advice if either situation applies.ClearAsMud wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 4:33 am One caution: the deduction can't be used in conjunction with the mortgage deduction, so if you've been taking advantage of that, you have to choose between the two.
In any case, income (shotoku being net income rather than gross income) from capital gains is reported on a kakutei shinkoku, and the up-to-30M yen special deduction for selling a personal residence is just that -- a deduction that has to be claimed and not an untaxable amount below which reporting is unnecessary. I do not believe that the statement in an earlier post about not needing to file is accurate. Check with the tax office or a tax professional for reliable advice, but I'm pretty sure you'll need to file a kakutei shinkoku next year that will include such documentation as the property's acquisition price and sales price.