Tax Question: House filming/Rental

[Neilk]

A commercial was shot at our house for one day last year and the production company sent us a 1099 form for tax purposes. The location scout mentioned that if we rented out our house for less than 7 days in a year, that the amount on the 1099 would not be taxable. Can anyone confirm that?

How should I handle the 1099 in TurboTax? They don't quite have commercial shoots in the income section.

Thanks,

[the]

I can't see how that would be true. What does it matter how many days you rent your house out for? If you are paid, that is income, and if you get a 1099, that is income that has been reported to the IRS.

The 1099 in Turbo Tax would be handled like any other 1099 income. It is going to go other "Other Income - 1099 Misc."

[Neilk]

I think you are allowed to rent out your primary residence tax free if it is under 7 days a year. If that's not the case, then I will suck it up and pay.

[the]

I don't know whether that is true or not, but I re-read your question and will revise my response.

I don't know whether the money is going to ultimately be *taxable.* But it is 1099 *income* that will have to be reported. So it would go in the 1099 Misc. section on Turbo Tax.

If there is some rule that it is not taxable income because it was less than 7 days, then the answer should be somewhere in the credits or deductions sections of Turbo Tax. My guess would be if there was some "less than 7 days rule," in the credits or deductions section of TT, there will be a question like "Is any of your income derived from renting out your primary residence for less than 7 days?" Then it would guide you through to reduce your income by that amount, so the net effect would be it is not taxable.

[silverc4s]

I rented my 911S to a movie company for a week or so last year. They paid me by check & sent a 1099 at year end.
Most of the rest of my income is wages and such, no personal business currently, so I was prompted and created a personal business in turbo tax that rented my car to the movie company and declared the payment as business income. The expenses of the business we limited to things that were actually involved in my providing the car to the set for that time.
I also was prompted to declare a value for the car and Turbo Tax did a 7 day depreciation on the vehicle. In the end I don't think I incurred any tax liability for the $1000 of income I recieved.
I am not a Tax advisor, just sharing my solution. YMMV, of course...

[TerryH]

It's my understanding that if anyone pays you more than $600-$700 per year, they have to file a 1099 with the IRS. So if they send off a 1099, it was be wise to claim the income to avoid penalties later.

I get about 20 1099's each year from my repeat customers.

You could call the IRS and see about the rental laws in your state.

[Dueller]

See IRS publication 527, page 2. Rental of your primary residene for fewer than 15 days per year should not be reported as income. Link to PDF:


http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p527.pdf

Disclaimer: I am not a tax attorney or cpa

[Dueller]

Also, excluded from income if less than $600. see chart: http://www.irs.gov/govt/tribes/article/0,,id=102552,00.html

[Hugh R]

I see Dueller found the code. Yeah, I can confirm that you don't have to pay taxes for a film shoot under 15 days/year. I've done it.