Introduction
An installment sale is a sale of property where you receive at least one payment after the tax year of the sale. If you realize
a gain on an
installment sale, you may be able to report part of your gain when you receive each payment. This method of reporting gain
is called the installment
method. You cannot use the installment method to report a loss. You can choose to report all of your gain in the year of sale.
This publication discusses the general rules that apply to using the installment method. It also discusses more complex rules
that apply only when
certain conditions exist or certain types of property are sold. There are two examples of reporting installment sale income
on Form 6252 at the end of
the publication.
If you sell your home or other nonbusiness property under an installment plan, you may need to read only the General Rules. If you sell
business or rental property or have a like-kind exchange or other complex situation, see the appropriate discussion under Other Rules,
later.
Comments and suggestions.
We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.
You can write to us at the following address:
Internal Revenue Service
Individual Forms and Publications Branch
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:I
1111 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20224
We respond to many letters by telephone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you would include your daytime phone number,
including the area code, in
your correspondence.
You can email us at
*[email protected]. (The asterisk must be included in the
address.) Please put “
Publications Comment” on the subject line. Although we cannot respond individually to each email, we do appreciate your
feedback and will consider your comments as we revise our tax products.
Tax questions.
If you have a tax question, visit
www.irs.gov or call 1-800-829-1040. We cannot answer tax questions at either
of the addresses listed above.
Ordering forms and publications.
Visit
www.irs.gov/formspubs
to download forms and publications, call 1-800-829-3676, or write to one of the three addresses shown under
How To Get Tax Help in the back
of this publication.
