deduct insurance for partial year rental

[Jeremy H.]

I am running into a problem finding this number.

Let's say my property converted from personal to rental in June.  I cancelled the regular home owner insurance around June, to purchased a new policy that is rental insurance (mostly, it's a fire insurance).

So there is 2 policies that needs to be pro-rated  (home owner,  and rental policy).    Do I just deduct the insurance for the rental period (June - end of year)?    I am just having trouble coming up with the pro-rated number, it's probably like $150 and I don't want to get audited having to proof the number. 

Am I better off not deducting anything in this field?

Or do I enter the total expense insurance (both policies pro-rate) and the IRS formula will proportion them based on # of days?

[Account Closed]

Jeremy H. You can only deduct expenses that you actually incurred. If the premium was refunded you did not end up paying it and therefore can not deduct. Real estate provides so many tax deductible expenses like depreciation, interest, taxes, etc. that you would have a hard time showing a taxable profit for most rental properties. I wouldn't spend too much time trying to scheme an extra dollar or two from the IRS.