For those who sold their home this year, it’s important to understand how selling your home may impact your tax returns, now that tax season is upon us. The following information explains how capital gains work for those who have recently sold a home. For those of you that are unaware of what capital gains are, its simply profit made from a capital asset such as stock, bond, or in our case, real estate.

If you sell your primary residence, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 of gain – $500,000 for married couples – from your federal tax return. To claim the exclusion, the IRS says your home must have been owned by you and used as your main home for a period of at least two out of the five years prior to its sale.

There are a few catches: You also must not have excluded gain on another home sold during the two years before the current sale. However, special rules apply for members of the armed, uniformed and foreign services and their families in calculating the 5-year period.

If you do not meet the ownership and use tests, you may use a reduced maximum exclusion amount. But only if you sold your home due to health, a change in place of employment, or unforeseen circumstances.

An extra perk? If you can exclude all the gain from the sale of your home, you do not report it on your federal tax return. If you cannot exclude all the gain, or you choose not to, you must use Schedule D of Form 1040, Capital Gains or Losses, to report the total gain and claim the exclusion you qualify for.

How about for those with more than one home?

You can exclude the gain only from the sale of your main residence. 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 usually the one you live in most often.

The Green Team home base is in Warwick, but our client’s properties expand all over New York and New Jersey. I have seen a large raise in  homes for sale in Warwick, Florida, and most other places in Orange County which is why I am passing this information on to you reader! If you have any questions on capital gains, don’t hesitate to call or stop by.