.Andrea sold a piece of machinery she used in her business for 9 months. The amount realized was $50,000 and the adjusted basis was $55,000. What is Andrea's gain or loss realized and what is the character of the gain or loss?

The adjusted basis is the net cost of an asset after it has had depreciation deductions and/or capital expenditure increments. In other words, its actual worth at that particular point in time.

The amount realized is the fair market value and the sum of any money received at the sale of an asset.

A realized gain or loss is the difference between the amount realized from the sale of the asset and the asset's adjusted basis on the time of its sale. A positive figure proves to be a gain and a negative figure proves to be a loss. In other words, when an asset is sold for a price higher than what it is actually worth at the time of sale, it is a realized gain whilst if it is sold for a price lower than what its net cost is, it is a realized loss.

In this case,

$50,000 - $55,000 = $(5000)

There is a realized loss for Andrea of $5000 on the sale of this machinery.