If the
house was not available to rent during the time it was listed for sale, then
you are correct, those expenses are not rental expenses.
This means
that the expenses will not be listed on your tax return since they are now
personal expenses. However, you can
prorate the property tax and claim the second half of the year as part of your
itemized deductions. Also, if the house
qualifies as a second home, you could prorate the mortgage interest and include
it on your itemized deductions.
Other
expenses such as utilities or repairs cannot be claimed for the time it was not
rented or available to rent.
The IRS offers an exclusion of the gain on the sale of a home (up to $500,000 if MFJ), if it was your primary residence for at least two of the past five years prior to sale, and you have not claimed an exclusion within the past two years. This ‘2 of 5 year’ rule can be suspended for up to ten years for military taxpayers, if they are on qualified official extended duty out of the area. This allows you ten years from the date you moved from the home to complete the sale and qualify for the exclusion.
[edited 3/14/17 7:23 am PST]
