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The Global Insight

Can I deduct a loss on the sale of an investment property?

Author

James Williams

Updated on March 17, 2026

If you sold your investment property for less than your cost basis, you have a deductible loss that you can claim when you go to file your taxes for the year. You can use that loss to offset all your capital gains from other investments and up to $3,000 in income from other sources in the current year.

Can real estate losses offset capital gains?

When you sell your investment property, you can use that loss to offset other capital gains. If you have no capital gains to offset your loss, the IRS also will let you claim up to $3,000 in capital losses against your income and will let you carry the remaining loss forward for use in the future.

Can you deduct a loss on the sale of a second home?

A second home, or a timeshare, used as a vacation home is a personal use capital asset. A gain on the sale is reportable income, but a loss is NOT deductible. You may receive IRS Form 1099-S Proceeds from Real Estate Transactions for the sale of your vacation home.

How to offset losses from your property investment?

Property owners are able to recognise them as ‘business losses’. These losses could be offset against their other statutory incomes such as employment, business, dividends … etc and thus, effectively lower the amount of chargeable income & income tax rates to property owners. 2. The utilisation of Unabsorbed Business Loss:

Is there a time limit to offset losses?

If it is not fully offset by the end of the year, you carry it forward to offset against gains next year and beyond. There is no time limit on this. The loss remains outstanding until you have made sufficient capital gain to full offset the €40,000 loss on your property investment.

Can a loss be offset against a gain in Ireland?

Many Irish investors are also still nursing losses against their shareholdings in Irish banks. The good news, if you can call it that, is that there is provision to offset losses against gains in order to reduce your tax bill.

Is there a time limit on using up capital losses?

If so, is there any time limit on my using up the tax losses on the property? Capital losses remain a stark reality for many people who were invested in the boom years, and not just in property. Many Irish investors are also still nursing losses against their shareholdings in Irish banks.