FREE RENTAL-PROPERTY TAX TOOL

Rental property sale tax estimator

Estimate the federal gain components that may arise from a basic, fully taxable sale of U.S. residential rental real estate held more than one year.

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BASIC FULLY TAXABLE SALE

Organize adjusted basis and potential federal gain layers

This educational tool uses the figures you provide and is not a tax return, appraisal, legal opinion, or recommendation to sell or exchange property.

Private by design: calculations happen in this browser. Amounts are not saved, submitted, or included in analytics.

Confirm the narrow scope

The property is U.S. residential rental real estate, held more than one year, always used 100% for rental or investment, and owned directly by an individual or disregarded single-member LLC.

It was not a main home or mixed-use property, and its basis did not come from a gift, inheritance, divorce, partial-interest purchase, or uncertain allocation.

The sale has no cost-segregation or Section 1245 assets, 1031 exchange, installment financing, foreclosure, casualty, related party, entity, or other special transaction.

If any statement is false or uncertain, stop here and request an individual review rather than using a simplified result.

Enter the sale and basis figures

Gross contract sale price

Use total cash-sale consideration. Do not subtract the mortgage payoff.

Seller-paid selling expenses

Use qualifying seller-paid commissions and closing expenses, excluding the mortgage payoff.

Original tax basis, including land

Use tax basis from your records, including land and properly capitalized acquisition costs—not market value, equity, down payment, or debt.

Later capital improvements and additions

Include supportable capital improvements not already included in original basis.

Straight-line depreciation allowed or allowable

Use total straight-line depreciation allowed or allowable through sale from the depreciation schedule. If the schedule is missing or uncertain, stop.

I understand the result is an illustrative federal rate scenario—not tax due—and excludes the rest of my return, state tax, NIIT determination, passive losses, and special transaction rules.

WHAT THE WORKSHEET DOES

The mortgage balance is not the tax-basis calculation

Amount realized

Gross sale price less the seller-paid selling expenses entered for this narrow cash-sale scenario.

Adjusted basis

Original tax basis plus later improvements, less straight-line depreciation allowed or allowable.

Illustrative gain layers

A simplified potential unrecaptured Section 1250 ceiling and remaining long-term gain scenarios before return-level netting.

Read the rental-property sale tax guide

IMPORTANT LIMITS

Stop when the sale is more complicated than the model

A false precise answer is worse than no estimate. Use an individual review when ownership, use, assets, basis, or transaction structure falls outside the confirmed assumptions.

Former main home, mixed personal use, vacation use, or partial rental use
Partnership, corporation, trust, estate, gift, inherited, or divorce basis
Cost segregation, bonus depreciation, Section 179, appliances, or other Section 1245 assets
1031 exchange, installment sale, foreclosure, debt cancellation, casualty, or related party
Incomplete basis records or a missing or unreliable depreciation schedule
State and local tax, passive-loss release, actual NIIT, or final return preparation

PRIMARY IRS GUIDANCE

Sources and review date

Sources reviewed July 23, 2026. Recheck current forms and guidance for the year of sale.