Are Home Inspections Tax Deductible?

Sometimes, but not in most cases:

Your Home Inspection is deductible if you are purchasing the home as a rental property or investment. If you plan on buying the home and turning it into an income property, then the inspection can be deducted as an expense. In this case, the rental is a business and the inspection is a deductible business expense. In this case you would of course want to hold on to that invoice you get from us to deduct next year.

The other case where the home inspection is deductible would be if you are a realtor who is purchasing the inspection for your client. In this case as well, the cost of the inspection would be a deductible business expense for the agent purchasing the inspection, but NOT the home-buying or home-selling client. For the agents out there reading this, consider purchasing the inspection for your cash-strapped client as a generous gift that your client won’t forget (and will remember when a friend asks for a referral!).

Most of the time, no, Home Inspections are not deductible.

Unfortunately, in most circumstances, the home inspection is considered a personal expense and is not deductible. While we certainly know that closing costs can add up to a significant chunk of cash that you are putting down in addition to your down-payment, consider that the home inspection is probably going to be the only closing-cost that actually saves you money throughout the transaction.

Your home inspection on anything other than a brand-new house should reveal any defects or deficiencies present on the home, to which you can use to negotiate with the seller to have fixed at their expense or a straight deduction of the final sale price.

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