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.
Illustrative example. Actual savings depend on your income, filing status, and other factors. Not tax advice.
A record the IRS would actually accept
- Every line item classified against IRS Pub 523 — 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.
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.
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.
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
Pro
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
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.
Questions, answered
Is this tax advice?
No. KeepBasis is a documentation tool. Classifications reference IRS Publication 523 and are informational — they aren't a determination that a specific cost qualifies, and they aren't advice from a CPA. Verify your numbers with a tax professional before filing.
Why not just use a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet holds numbers; the IRS wants substantiation. KeepBasis classifies every cost against IRS Pub 523 so repairs don't sneak into your basis, keeps the original invoice attached to each line item, and produces a CPA-ready export with the proof included. If you're ever audited, a list without receipts is just a list.
What's free and what costs money?
The ledger, the IRS Pub 523 classification, the Tax Calculator, and the home value lookup are free. Pro is a one-time $49 purchase that unlocks invoice upload with automatic reading, encrypted document storage attached to every line item, and the one-click CPA-ready export.
Why a one-time fee instead of a subscription?
Because you'll hold these records for years — often decades — and nobody wants a subscription for that. Our real costs are front-loaded (reading your invoices, storing your documents), so a single $49 covers your record for good.
What happens to my data if KeepBasis shuts down?
Your records are never trapped. The full export — a PDF dossier, spreadsheets, and every original invoice — is available anytime with one click. If we ever wind down, we commit to at least 90 days' notice and a final export window. We encourage everyone to keep their own downloaded copy current.
Is my data private?
Your documents are stored encrypted, isolated per-user at the database level, and we never sell your data — that's a product commitment, not a settings page. We also email you at most once per year, around tax time, and never send marketing.
When does tracking actually pay off?
When you sell, gain above $250,000 (single) or $500,000 (married filing jointly) is taxable — thresholds set in 1997 and never adjusted. Every documented improvement dollar reduces that gain dollar-for-dollar, which is typically worth about 15 to 23.8 cents in federal tax for sellers above the exclusion. Even if you're under it today, appreciation keeps pushing sellers over the line.
I've already lost years of receipts. Is it too late?
Start with what you have — card statements, contractor emails, and permits can help reconstruct older projects, and everything from today forward is protected. The best time to start the record was your first renovation; the second best time is before the next one.