Ten Tax Tips for Individuals Selling Their Home
Ten Tax Tips for Individuals Selling Their Home
The Internal Revenue Service has some important information for those who have sold or are about to sell their home. If you have a gain from the sale of your main home, you may be able to exclude all or part of that gain from your income.
Here are 10 tips from the IRS to keep in mind when selling your home:
- In general, you are eligible to exclude the gain from income if you have owned and used your home as your main home for two years out of the five years prior to the date of its sale.
- If you have a gain from the sale of your main home, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 of the gain from your income ($500,000 on a joint return in most cases).
- You are not eligible for the full exclusion if you excluded the gain from the sale of another home during the two-year period prior to the sale of your home.
- If you can exclude all of the gain, you do not need to report the sale of your home on your tax return.
- If you have a gain that cannot be excluded, it is taxable. You must report it on Form 1040, Schedule D, Capital Gains and Losses.
- You cannot deduct a loss from the sale of your main home.
- Worksheets are included in Publication 523, Selling Your Home, to help you figure the adjusted basis of the home you sold, the gain (or loss) on the sale, and the gain that you can exclude. Most tax software can also help with this calculation.
- If you have more than one home, you can exclude a gain only from the sale of your main home. You must pay tax on the gain from selling any other home. If you have two homes and live in both of them, your main home is ordinarily the one you live in most of the time.
- Special rules may apply when you sell a home for which you received the first-time homebuyer credit. See Publication 523, Selling Your Home, for details.
- When you move, be sure to update your address with the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service to ensure you receive mail from the IRS. Use Form 8822,Change of Address, to notify the IRS of your address change.
For more information about selling your home,see IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
We hope you found this article about “Ten Tax Tips for Individuals Selling Their Home” helpful. If you have questions or need expert tax or family office advice that’s refreshingly objective (we never sell investments), please contact us or visit our Family office page or our website at www.GROCO.com. Unfortunately, we no longer give advice to other tax professionals gratis.
To receive our free newsletter, contact us here.
Subscribe our YouTube Channel for more updates.
Alan Olsen, is the Host of the American Dreams Show and the Managing Partner of GROCO.com. GROCO is a premier family office and tax advisory firm located in the San Francisco Bay area serving clients all over the world.
Alan L. Olsen, CPA, Wikipedia Bio
GROCO.com is a proud sponsor of The American Dreams Show.
The American Dreams show was the brainchild of Alan Olsen, CPA, MBA. It was originally created to fill a specific need; often inexperienced entrepreneurs lacked basic information about raising capital and how to successfully start a business.
Alan sincerely wanted to respond to the many requests from aspiring entrepreneurs asking for the information and introductions they needed. But he had to find a way to help in which his venture capital clients and friends would not mind.
The American Dreams show became the solution, first as a radio show and now with YouTube videos as well. Always respectful of interview guest’s time, he’s able to give access to individuals information and inspiration previously inaccessible to the first-time entrepreneurs who need it most.
They can listen to venture capitalists and successful business people explain first-hand, how they got to where they are, how to start a company, how to overcome challenges, how they see the future evolving, opportunities, work-life balance and so much more..
American Dreams discusses many topics from some of the world’s most successful individuals about their secrets to life’s success. Topics from guest have included:
Creating purpose in life / Building a foundation for their life / Solving problems / Finding fulfillment through philanthropy and service / Becoming self-reliant / Enhancing effective leadership / Balancing family and work…
MyPaths.com (Also sponsored by GROCO) provides free access to content and world-class entrepreneurs, influencers and thought leaders’ personal success stories. To help you find your path in life to true, sustainable success & happiness. It’s mission statement:
In an increasingly complex and difficult world, we hope to help you find your personal path in life and build a strong foundation by learning how others found success and happiness. True and sustainable success and happiness are different for each one of us but possible, often despite significant challenges.
Our mission at MyPaths.com is to provide resources and firsthand accounts of how others found their paths in life, so you can do the same.
John Gatti – Partner at Loeb and Loeb
The workings of Law cover every aspect of life. From business agreements to marital disputes lawyers work to simplify complex issues and convince the jury of the innocence of their client. Law even covers the entertainment industry. Listen as John Gatti describes how different aspects of law work in entertainment. Transcript: John Gatti – Partner…
Brooke Elder – Founder of Social Tenacity
Entrepreneurs live a high risk life. From near bankruptcy, Brooke Elder was able to build Social Tenacity, a coaching network for marketers, to help others scale their business. Listen as she describes some of the secrets to her business’ success. Brooke Elder – Founder of Social Tenacity Transcript: Alan Olsen: Welcome to American Dreams. My…
Nick Nanton – Emmy Nominated Filmmaker
As a winner of 22 Emmy Awards, Movie Producer Nick Nanton has a great understanding of the arts and how to captivate the audience. His secret for doing such amazing work is surrounding himself with experts and allowing them to do their jobs. Listen to this American Dreams Episode to learn how he was able…
Gareb Shamus – Bringing NFTs to Super Heroes
Gareb Shamus Biography Gareb Shamus is a serial entrepreneur, visionary, and cultural catalyst who has influenced over a billion people through his businesses, communities, and relationships in the Superhero and character franchise worlds. As the founder and publisher of Wizard magazine, Shamus created the comic book industry’s most influential voice and grew Comic Con…