Two Years of Ownership and Use
To take advantage of the exclusion, you must have owned and used the home as a principal residence for at least two of the five preceding years. The two years for each test need not have occurred at the same time.
| In 1994, Sharon Rose was living in a rented apartment. The apartment was converted into a condominium, and in 1997 Sharon purchased her apartment. In 1999, Sharon became ill and on April 14 of that year, she moved to her daughter's home. She never moved back to the condo and on July 10, 2001, she sold it.
Sharon can exclude up to $250,000 in gain on the sale of her condo because she met both tests, at different times. Her five year-period began on July 10, 1996, and ended on July 10, 2001. Within that period, she lived in the condo from July 10, 1996, until April 14, 1999, which is more than two years. Also within that period she owned the home from sometime in 1997 until July 10, 2001, which is also more than two years.
|
|
In tallying up the time periods, you can count short periods of absence for vacation, seasonal absences, or any other temporary absence (generally, anything under one year) as time that you spent using the home.
Also, there are some grandfathering provisions in the law, which say that if you previously owned a home and rolled over the capital gains from that home into your current home under the old rollover-replacement rule, you can count the time you owned and/or lived in that previous home towards your two-year period. To take advantage of this exception, you can't have sold another home within two years of your sale, or since May 7, 1997 (whichever period is shorter). This is true even if your previous home was condemned or destroyed.
If you can't meet the two-year rules because you became physically or mentally incapable of self-care, you qualify for the exemption if you owned and lived in the home for at least one year.
|
