When it comes to selling your home, proactive tax planning can help you reduce your federal income tax bill.
If you have a capital gain from the sale of your main home, you may qualify to exclude up to $250,000 of that gain from your income, or up to $500,000 of that gain if you file a joint return with your spouse. Topic no. 701, Sale of your home | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov).
How to Qualify
In general, you must meet both the ownership test and the use test. You're eligible for the exclusion if you have owned and used your home as your main home for a period of at least two years out of the five years prior to its date of sale. You can meet the ownership and use tests during different 2-year periods. However, you must meet both tests during the 5-year period ending on the date of the sale. Refer to Publication 523 for the complete eligibility requirements, limitations on the exclusion amount, and exceptions to the two-year rule.
A Costly Tax Mistake to Avoid
Let’s say Tom is a soon-to-be married homeowner who’s looking to sell his principal residence. If certain tests are met, an unmarried individual may be able to exclude up to $250,000 of taxable gain.
Just before the wedding, Tom sells the home he’d purchased 20 years earlier. The home had appreciated by $500,000. He and his future wife, Stacy, plan to move into her much smaller fixer-upper home after the wedding.
As an unmarried taxpayer, Tom can exclude $250,000 of the gain from the sale of his home, leaving a taxable gain of $250,000 ($500,000 minus the $250,000 federal home sale gain exclusion). He owes 15% federal income tax on the gain, plus the 3.8% net
investment income tax and state income tax.
Instead, suppose that Tom and Stacy had taken the time to seek tax planning advice. Their tax advisor would have let them know that the home sale gain exclusion for married couples is $500,000 if various tests are met, including that both spouses have resided in the home as their principal residence for at least two years.
Rather than sell Tom’s house before the wedding, they might have kept it and lived in it as a married couple for two years. That would have allowed them to avoid the full $500,000 in taxable gain and the resulting taxes when they later sold it. Even if Stacy had sold her fixer-upper home before the wedding, the gain would likely have been much smaller and may have been fully sheltered with her $250,000 home sale gain exclusion.
Slow Down and Seek Advice
Proactive tax planning is generally worth the effort, especially if you have a lot at stake and/or tax rates increase. Even if you don’t need advice on the subject of home sales, other issues may be much more complicated, and a lack of knowledge could lead to costly mistakes. Contact the office to get the best tax planning results for your circumstances.