Installment Sale - Process

Process

If a taxpayer realizes income (e.g., gain) from an installment sale, the income generally may be reported by the taxpayer under the "installment method." The "installment method" is defined as "a method under which the income recognized for any taxable year is that proportion of the payments received in that year which the gross profit bears to the total contract price." This means that if a taxpayer sells real estate with a basis of $250,000 for $1,000,000 resulting in 75% total profit then the taxpayer should claim 75% of the total payments received during the taxable year as gross income. The interest on the note is included in gross income by the taxpayer according to the taxpayer's usual method of accounting.

Nothing in the language of the governing statute (section 453 of the Internal Revenue Code) requires the use of the installment method where the disposition results in a loss. If the taxpayer disposes of property in an installment sale, he or she reports a portion of the gain at the time of receipt of each installment payment. Income from an installment sale is generally reported on IRS Form 6252, Installment Sale Income, to be included in the taxpayer's Federal income tax return for each year in which a payment is received.

Taxpayers may elect out of the installment method and report the entire gain in the year of disposition, even though at least one payment will not have been received by the close of that year) by making the election on a timely filed income tax return for the tax year in which the disposition occurs.

It is important to note that "contract price" does not necessarily mean the dollar amount agreed to by contract. Instead, Treasury Regulation Sec. 15A.453-1(b)(2)(iii) defines contract price as "the total contract price equal to selling price reduced by that portion of any qualifying indebtedness...assumed or taken subject to by the buyer, which does not exceed the seller's basis in the property (adjusted, for installment sales in taxable years ending after October 19, 1980, to reflect commissions and other selling expenses as provided in paragraph (b)(2)(v) of this section)." Qualifying indebtedness is further defined as a "mortgage or other indebtedness encumbering the property and indebtedness, not secured by the property but incurred or assumed by the purchaser incident to the purchaser's acquisition, holding, or operation in the ordinary course of business or investment, of the property." Qualifying indebtedness specifically excludes any debts that are incident to the disposition of the property, such as legal fees incurred during the sale, or debts that are not functionally related to the taxpayer's holding of the property. This method of calculating contract price allows the installment method to more accurately account for the taxpayer's basis in the property.