New Rental 25k in improvements no tenants, write offs?

[Drake Espenlaub]

Bought a duplex in May, it was to be owner occupied for a year, therefore it is my 'primary residence' however it needed much improvement. I have put about 25k of my own money into improvements, 10k in HVAC, 3k Windows, 4k flooring, for just some of the larger expenses. 

I also bought a 2004 explorer so I could have a vehicle to haul things for the project, future projects.

Question is any of this deductible this year given the fact I haven't generated any income ($0 from other rentals as well) in from this property? 

Thanks for the advice.

[Brian Schmelzlen]

@Drake Espenlaub

None of it is deductible for 2017.  The fact that you planned on using it as a personal residence would make it non-deductible, but I'll ignore that for now.  Rehabing the property means that those costs have to be capitalized, and you cannot start to depreciate them until you put it into service, which in this case means holding the property out to rent.  The fact that you don't have any rental income isn't a problem (although it would raise a red flag); the problem is that it sounds like you didn't have it available to rent yet.  You will be able to start depreciating them once you put the property into service (talk to your CPA for rules about if you use it as a personal residence first).