Form 1099-S: Real Estate Sale Basics

If you sold land, a house, a condominium, or other real estate, the closing agent may give you Form 1099-S. The form shows the gross proceeds from the sale. It does not show your gain or your tax. This guide is general information. It is not advice about your return.

Who sends the form

Publication 544 (2025) says the person responsible for closing the transaction must report certain sales on Form 1099-S. These include sales of land, improved or unimproved, including air space; a residential, commercial, or industrial building; a condominium unit with its related fixtures and common elements; stock in a cooperative housing corporation; and any noncontingent interest in standing timber.

You should get a copy of the form, or a substitute statement with the same information. Publication 544 says the gross proceeds for the sale appear in box 2.

What the boxes tell you

Box 1: the date of sale. Publication 523 (2025) says the date of sale appears in box 1.
Box 2: the gross proceeds from the sale.
Box 4: a check here means the sale included noncash payments. For a home sale, Publication 523 says you must find the value of those payments and add it to the box 2 figure.

If the sale was your main home

Publication 523 says the home-sale exclusion applies only to the sale of a home you used as your main home. Read our guide to the home-sale exclusion before you figure any gain. Publication 523 also says that if you received Form 1099-S, you must report the sale on Form 8949 even if you have no taxable gain to report.

If you did not receive Form 1099-S, Publication 523 says the date of sale is the earlier of two dates: the date title transferred, or the date the economic burdens and benefits of ownership shifted to the buyer. Use your closing documents for the total you received.

Losses on personal-use property

Publication 544 says a loss on the sale of real estate held for personal use is not deductible. If you received a Form 1099-S for that sale, you still report the transaction on Form 8949 and Schedule D, as applicable.

Business and rental property

Publication 544 says some sales are reported on other forms instead of Form 8949, such as Form 4797 for business property and Form 6252 for installment sales. Our guides to Form 4797 and installment sales and Form 6252 explain those forms. Publication 544 also lists Form 4684 for casualties and thefts, and Form 8824 for like-kind exchanges, as other forms where a sale may be reported.

Selling costs are a separate step

Publication 523 lists the selling costs you subtract when you figure a home sale. They include sales commissions, advertising, legal costs, and any mortgage points or other loan charges you paid that would normally have been the buyer's. Those costs belong to the home-sale calculation, not to the form. Keep the settlement statement that lists them.

Form 1099-S shows the date, the gross proceeds, and whether noncash payments were part of the sale. It does not figure your gain for you.

Simple steps

Check your closing papers for a Form 1099-S or a substitute statement.
Note the date of sale and the gross proceeds.
If the property was your main home, read the home-sale rules before you figure the gain.
Report the sale on Form 8949 when the form or the rules require it, even if you have no taxable gain.

Upload your documents and answer a few simple questions. Your preparer reviews every deduction and credit and lets you know when your return is ready to sign.

Sources: Sources: IRS, Publication 544 (2025), Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p544.pdf); Publication 523 (2025), Selling Your Home (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p523.pdf) This is general information, not advice about your specific return.

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