For homeowners

Don't let home improvements cost you extra

Track your home improvement projects to increase your home's cost basis, shrinking your taxable gain when you sell. Most people lose the savings because they lose the invoices. We keep them for you, organized and audit-ready.

How it works

You bought your home for $400k and sold for $750k.

That's a $350,000 gain on paper — the number the IRS starts from.

Tax bill, no tracking
$15,000$23,800
With tracking
$3,750$5,950
$11,250$17,850 kept in your pocket

Illustrative example. Actual savings depend on your income, filing status, and other factors. Not tax advice.

Sale price $750,000
$400k
Without tracking$100k taxable
With tracking$25k taxable
Cost basisImprovementsExclusionTaxable gain

Record keeping your accountant will be proud of

  • Every line item classified against the official tax rules — the remodel counts, the repainting doesn't, and you can see why.
  • The original invoice stays attached to each cost — substantiation, not just a spreadsheet.
  • Your adjusted cost basis stays current with every project you log.
keepbasis.com/tracker
Original basis
$400,000
+ Improvements
$61,730
= Adjusted basis
$461,730
Kitchen remodel
May 2024 · 4 items
$48,730
$46,880 to basis
Cabinets, countertops & installationLikely qualifiesInvoice
Interior
$23,400
Hardwood flooringLikely qualifiesInvoice
Interior
$18,900
Repainting wallsLikely doesn't qualify
Repair / maintenance
$1,850
Sales taxLikely qualifiesInvoice
Interior
$4,580
Roof replacement
$14,850all to basis

The tax break was set in 1997 — and never indexed.

You can exclude $250,000 of gain (single) or $500,000 (married) when you sell your main home. Congress set those caps in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 and never tied them to inflation — so as home prices climbed, more and more sellers crossed the line.

Sellers exposed to the tax
~3% → ~50%

The share of sellers whose gain could be exposed to capital-gains tax has climbed from roughly 3% when the caps were enacted, to about half of home sales by 2025.

If the caps had kept up
$720k / $1.44M

Indexed to home-price growth since 1998, the single and married caps would be about $720,000 and $1.44 million today — instead of the frozen $250,000 and $500,000.

Source: Congressional Research Service, The Exclusion of Capital Gains for Owner-Occupied Housing (RL32978, updated Aug. 6, 2025).

Free to find out. One time cost to track forever

No subscription. You're storing records for years — you shouldn't pay a monthly fee to do it.

Free

The full calculator and a manual improvement log.

  • • Eligibility check & cost-basis calculator
  • • Manual improvement ledger with IRS classification
  • • Home value estimate from your address
Get started — free

Pro

$49 once

Everything in Free, plus the audit-ready records behind your number — there if the IRS ever asks.

  • • Upload & store invoices, encrypted
  • • Automatic reading & sorting of every invoice
  • • One-click CPA-ready export, forever
  • • Buyer-ready showcase — share your home's history when you sell
Get Pro — $49

Your records are sensitive. We treat them that way.

Encrypted, never sold

Your documents are encrypted. We never sell your data — not now, not ever.

No lock-in

Export everything — records and original images — in one click, anytime. Take it and leave whenever you want.

One email a year. No marketing.

We reach out once, around tax time, to remind you we're here. That's the only email we'll ever send. No promotions, ever.

We hold as little as possible

We store only what your cost-basis record needs — and give you the tools to keep your own copy current.