Thank you for all your responses!
This will be my first shot at being a landlord. I plan on placing some ads and rent signs by March and hopefully have a tenant by April. I have a few questions:
Can I start fixing up my Condo now? Nothing big some paint new dishwasher little stuff like that and still claim it on my taxes? Or do I have to wait till I move out to be able to claim it?
Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Evan
I’m not a ‘tax guy’ (perhaps a few will weigh in here) but here’s my 2 cents:
Normally, yes, you can capture the costs of preparing a unit for rental as long as the time period is reasonable (as it appears to be in this case). I would not wait 6 or 8 months between fix up and rental – a month or two, depending upon condition, should be fine. The paint, etc. are considered “repairs” and can be claimed on your 2005 return. The dishwasher is a depreciable asset and will have to be depreciated over the course of 5 years.
Refer to IRS Pub 527 for more details:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p527/ar02.html
Keith