My question is: US-specific
 
  QUESTION: My husband and I sold our house in Colorado last July. Are any of
 the home improvements that we completed in order to sell our house tax
 deductible?
 
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 david ingram anwers:
 
Some of it depends upon your definition of "improvements".
 
If you mean you cleaned it up and painted, etc., before the sale and really
 what you did was regular repairs and maintenance, they can be deducted
 against the sale price if made within sixty days of the sale.
 
The answer is also yes if you made real improvements such as added a room,
 built a new fence, added a porch, etc.  In this case, they would be added to
 the Adjusted Cost Base of the house.
 
Of course, with a $250,000 exemption per person for the profit on the sale,
 a couple has to have a pretty expensive house to have to pay tax.
 
If you go to http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/ir02-142.pdf You can get a new
 month old IRS bulletin dealing with the sale of a principal residence and
 this should give you more information.
 
Your answer came from
 
  David Ingram - www.centa.com
 the CEN-TA Group
 US / Canada / Mexico Income Tax and Working Visa Matters
 108-100 Park Royal South
 West Vancouver, BC, CANADA
 V7T 1A2
 
(604) 913-9133  Fax (604) 913-9123
 Cell (604) 657-8451 10 AM to 10 PM 7 days a week
 
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