Tax relief with renting out? (sale, rental, depreciation)

[indie05]

Hi,
Can someone please tell me if I can claim some tax relief if I rent out my room in a SFH? We haev a looot of repairs that need to be done (roof,trim,basement,kitchen) adn was wondering if renting out (besides the extra income) will help some in writing off our taxes?/we are looking to rent for 1 year or more. Or does that not matter? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[mdcrim]

I think, if anything, you would have to claim the income, so it would not be relief, it would be more of a tax burden. I'm not an accountant though.

[Mike From NIU]

I'm not sure what tax relief you're thinking of. It's very hard to get deductions from rental activities. Many limit tax deductions to the amount of income received. Valid excess losses are suspended until income is available to offset the deduction. However, claiming depreciation on a residence also subjects it to depreciation recapture upon its sale by lowering your basis in the property. Sections 280A and 469 are pertinent to rental and other passive activities. I would consult a tax advisor before taking this step. You may still want to do this, to help pay for repairs, but tax savings is probably not a good motivation. You definitely want to set it up correctly, however, because reconstructing rental transactions and deductions retroactively is a major pain.