can I write off flip expenses for a house selling in 2016?

[Kevin Gerace]

so I asked a question yesterday, but after sleeping on it I think this is the heart of my original question.

I flipped a house this year, but it won't sell til next year. Some of the money I used for renovations was allocated for my 4th quarter taxes of my single member llc. So now I don't have enough money to pay my taxes. Can I use some of the expenses for renovating the flip on my 2015 tax return to offset my income of my business? Then next year when the house sells just pay the extra at that time. It makes sense in my head.... The house was flipped in my name.

[Chris Soignier]

I'm not a CPA, just a finance MBA w/ a lot of accounting hours and experience.   The correct way to do it in accrual accounting would be to capitalize the costs into the basis of the property, so you match the recognition of the costs w/ associated revenues.   

There may be other ways to do it if you're on a cash basis, or want to be more aggressive in classifying expenses as maintenance, but I'd recommend hiring and consulting a CPA who understands your particular situation.     I learned several years ago that as adept as I thought I was at doing taxes, someone who practices taxation full-time provides a lot of value in minimizing my tax bill.