year, or when I sell the house? I've done a lot of things like building a new wall, painted over the previous owners crappy paint job in every room and added nicer fixtures. What about the tools I had to buy? I've got a ton of receipts. I've done everything myself or with help from my dad.

You add the cost of improvements to the basis of your house. You cannot deduct any costs currently on your tax return. But when you sell it could reduce capital gains, if they apply. I wouldn't stress over this. When I do an improvement I jksut put hte receipt for the materials and labor in the file with the closing statement from the purcahse of the house.

Keep track of all the improvements/repairs you do to the house. Any improvements add to the "basis" of your house...or in plain language, it increases it's value. You add these improvement costs to the price when you list it to recoup your investment. There are alot of things that go into placing a sell price or list price on your house when you decide to sell...how much other comparable houses in your neighborhood are selling for, what the current sellers market is like (these are examples).















Simply put...improvements costs are NOT tax deductible, but add to the value of your house at the end when you decide to sell it.