What is the basis of property received as a gift?

To figure the basis of property you get as a gift, you must know its adjusted basis to the donor just before it was given to you. You also must know its fair market value (FMV) at the time it was given to you. If the FMV of the property at the time of the gift is less than the donor's adjusted basis, your basis depends on whether you have a gain or loss when you dispose of the property. Your basis for figuring gain is the same as the donor's adjusted basis, plus or minus any required adjustments to basis while you held the property. Your basis for figuring a loss is the FMV of the property when you received the gift, plus or minus any required adjustments to basis while you held the property. See Adjusted Basis in Publication 551, Basis of Assets.

If you use the donor's adjusted basis for figuring a gain and get a loss, and then use the FMV for figuring a loss and get a gain, you have neither a gain or loss on the sale or disposition of the property.

If the FMV is equal to or greater than the donor's adjusted basis, your basis is the donor's adjusted basis at the time you received the gift. Increase your basis by all or part of any gift tax paid, depending on the date of the gift. Also, for figuring gain or loss, you must increase or decrease your basis by any required adjustments to basis while you held the property. See Adjusted Basis in Publication 551, Basis of Assets.

If you received a gift before 1977, increase your basis in the gift (the donor's adjusted basis) by any gift tax paid on it. However, do not increase your basis above the FMV of the gift at the time it was given to you.

If you received a gift after 1976, increase your basis by the part of the gift tax paid on it that is due to the net increase in value of the gift. Figure the increase to basis by multiplying the gift tax paid by the following fraction. The numerator of the fraction is the net increase in value of the gift and the denominator is the amount of the gift.

The net increase in value of the gift is the FMV of the gift less the donor's adjusted basis. The amount of the gift is its value for gift tax purposes, after reduction by any annual exclusion and any marital or charitable deduction that applies to the gift. For more information on the gift tax, please see Publication 950, Introduction to Estate and Gift taxes.

For additional information on this subject see Gifts.

I have investment property. Can you explain the term basis of assets?

Basis is your investment in property for tax purposes. Before you can figure any gain or loss on a sale, exchange, or other disposition of property, or figure allowable depreciation, you must determine the adjusted basis. Adjusted basis is the result of increasing or decreasing your original basis according to certain events. Your original basis is usually your cost to acquire the asset.

Increases to basis include but are not limited to:

Decreases to basis include but are not limited to:

Additional information on basis can be found in Publication 551, Basis of Assets, or Tax Topic 703, Basis of Assets.

How do I figure the cost basis of stock that has split, giving me more of the same stock, so I can figure my capital gain (or loss) on the sale of the stock?

When the old stock and the new stock are identical the basis of the old shares must be allocated to the old and new shares. Thus, you generally divide the adjusted basis of the old stock by the number of shares of old and new stock. The result is your new basis per share of stock. If the old shares were purchased in separate lots for differing amounts of money, the adjusted basis of the old stock must be allocated between the old and new stock on a lot by lot basis.

How do I figure the cost basis when the stocks I'm selling were purchased at various times and at different prices?

If you can identify which shares of stock you sold, your basis is what you paid for the shares sold (plus sales commissions). If you sell a block of the same kind of stock, you can report all the shares sold at the same time as one sale, writing VARIOUS in the "date acquired" column of Form 1040, Schedule D (PDF). However, what you enter into the "cost or other basis" column is the total of all the acquisition costs of the shares sold.

If you cannot adequately identify the shares you sold and you bought the shares at various times for different prices, the basis of the stock sold is the basis of the shares you acquired first (first-in first-out). Except for certain mutual fund shares, you cannot use the average price per share to figure gain or loss on the sale of stock.

For more information, refer to Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses.

How do I compute the basis for stock I sold, when I received the stock over several years through a dividend reinvestment plan?

The basis of the stock you sold is the cost of the shares plus any adjustments, such as sales commissions. If you have not kept detailed records of your dividend reinvestments, you may be able to reconstruct those records with the help of public records from sources such as the media, your broker, or the company that issued the dividends.

If you cannot specifically identify which shares were sold, you must use the first-in first-out rule. This means that you deem that you sold the oldest shares first, then the next oldest, then the next-to-the-next oldest, until you have accounted for the number of shares in the sale. In order to establish the basis of these shares, you need to have kept adequate documentation of all your purchases, including those that were through the dividend reinvestment plan. You may not use an average cost basis. Only mutual fund shares may have an average cost basis.

Refer to Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses, and Publication 551, Basis of Assets.

How do return of principal payments affect my cost basis when I sell mutual funds?

A return of principal (or return of capital) reduces your basis in your mutual fund shares. Unlike a dividend or a capital gain distribution, a return of capital is a return of part of your investment (cost). However, basis cannot be reduced below zero. Once your basis reaches zero, any return of principal is capital gain and must be reported on Form 1040 Schedule D (PDF), Capital Gains and Losses.

I own stock which became worthless last year. Can I take a bad debt deduction on my tax return?

If you own securities and they become totally worthless, you can take a deduction for a loss, but not for a bad debt.

The worthless securities are treated as though they were capital assets sold on the last day of the tax year if they were capital assets in your hands. Report worthless securities on line 1 or line 8 of Form 1040, Schedule D (PDF), whichever applies. In columns (c) and (d), write "Worthless." For additional information, refer to Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses (Including Capital Gains and Losses). For more information on bad debts, refer to Tax Topic 453, Bad Debt Deduction.

I have a home office. Can I deduct expenses like mortgage, utilities, etc., but not deduct depreciation so that when I sell this house, the basis won't be affected?

If you qualify to deduct expenses for the business use of your home, you can claim depreciation for the part of your home that is a home office. Generally, the part of your home that is a home office is depreciated over a recovery period of 39 years using the straight line method of depreciatiion and a mid-month convention. If you do not claim depreciation on that part of your home that is a home office, you are still required to reduce the basis of your home for the allowable depreciation of that part of your home that is a home office when reporting the sale of your home. For more information, refer to Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home.

We are selling rental property and have never claimed depreciation. What do we do about this when we file our taxes?

When reporting the sale of or computing gain or loss on rental property, you are required to make an adjustment to your basis for allowable depreciation regardless of whether the deduction was taken. For more information refer to Publication 544, Sales or Other Dispositions of Assets, and the Instructions for Form 4797, Sales of Business Property.

You can claim the depreciation not taken for the rental property in the years before the year of sale. How to do this depends on when you placed in service the rental property. If you placed in service the rental property before calendar year 2003, you may amend your income tax returns for the years before the year of the sale by using Form 1040X (PDF), Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, to take the depreciation deductions for the rental property that should have been taken. Or, you may file a Form 3115 (PDF), Application for Change in Accounting Method, to claim the depreciation for the rental property that should have been taken for the years before the year of the sale. The Form 3115 must be timely filed for the same tax year in which you sell the rental property.

If you placed in service the rental property after calendar year 2002 and you have unclaimed depreciation for two or more years before the year of sale, you must use Form 3115 (PDF), Application for Change in Accounting Method, to claim the depreciation for the rental property that should have been taken for the years before the year of the sale. The Form 3115 must be timely filed for the same tax year in which you sell the rental property.

If you placed in service the rental property after calendar year 2002 and you have unclaimed depreciation for only the year immediately preceding the year of sale, you may amend your income tax return for that prior year by using Form 1040X (PDF), Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, to take the depreciation deduction for the rental property that should have been taken. Or, you may file a Form 3115 (PDF), Application for Change in Accounting Method, to claim the depreciation for the rental property that should have been taken for the prior year. The Form 3115 must be timely filed for the same tax year in which you sell the rental property.