1099-A however my understanding is that a 1099-C can be issued at a later date
The transaction itself - reportable on 1099-A - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099a.pdf should be treated as disposition of the property at fair market value and should be reported as you sell the property. If the property your primary residence - the gain if any excluded from the taxable income.
If you negotiate with the creditor and all or part of the debt is forgiven or the debt would be canceled under bankruptcy protection procedure - you are sent the form 1099-C.
The amount of debt forgiven is reportable on 1099-C - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099c.pdf - generally is taxable, unless an insolvency exemption apply -- you should file a form 982 - to proof your insolvency - and might exclude all or part of canceled debt from taxable income.
Please see the IRS Publication 908 Bankruptcy Tax Guide - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p908.pdf - with example of the form 982 on the last page.
Let me know if you need any clarification.
Thank you for your response. But I am not sure I understand my obligation here. This house forclosed - was not part of a bankruptcy. It was an FHA Loan and I was counciled by FHA that this would be forgiven - but then I recieved the 1099-A form.
Who determines Fair market Value?---- your first part o f the response indicates "should be treated as disposition of the property at fair market value and should be reported as you sell the property. If the property your primary residence - the gain if any excluded from the taxable income. "
Not sure I understand this statement.....there was no gain, this was a primary residence...
Your second statement indicates that perhaps this debt could be forgiven? Based on conversations that was my assumption....should this information be available to me from FHA? Or since I didn't recieve a 1099-C the debt was not considered forgiven?
I looked at the 982 form in the link you provided....since this was not part of a bankruptcy would this apply? I would assume that FHA would provide me with some type of discharge of the debt???
If the property was your primary residence and there was no gain - you do not need to report the property on your tax return.
If the debt i s forgiven the lender is required to issue the form 1099-C indicate so - if you did not receive that form - please contact the lender and verify if the form would be issued and for which year.
The amount of debt forgiven or discharged that is reportable on 1099-C - generally is taxable, unless an insolvency exemption apply -- you may use the insolvency exemption regardless if you filed bankruptcy or not,
but you should file a form 982 - to proof your insolvency - and might exclude all or part of canceled debt from taxable income.
In additional - the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 signed at the end of the last year provides additional relief - http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-3648 that allows exclusion of income realized as a result of modification of the terms of the mortgage, or foreclosure on your principal residence.
The Act applies to qualified debt forgiven in 2007, 2008 or 2009 - and only to forgiven or canceled debt used to buy, build or substantially improve your principal residence, or to refinance debt incurred for those purposes.
You still need to file the form 982 to claim the exclusion.
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