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by Devon Weaver, Keeping Tabs Accounting
10 Tax Tips for Individuals
Selling Their Home
Here is some important information to share with individuals who have
sold or are about to sell their home. If you have a gain from the sale of your main
home, you may qualify to exclude all or part of that gain from your income. Here
are ten tips from the IRS to keep in mind when selling your home.
1. In general, you are eligible to exmust pay tax on the gain from
clude the gain from income if you
selling any other home. If you
have owned and used your home as
have two homes and live in both of
your main home for two years out
them, your main home is ordinarof the five years prior to the date of
ily the one you live in most of the
its sale.
time.
2. If you have a gain from the sale of 9. If you received the first-time
your main home, you may be able
homebuyer credit and within 36
to exclude up to $250,000 of the
months of the date of purchase,
gain from your income ($500,000
the property is no longer used
on a joint return in most cases).
as your principal residence, you
3. You are not eligible for the excluare required to repay the credit.
sion if you excluded the gain from
Repayment of the full credit is
the sale of another home during
due with the income tax return
the two-year period prior to the
for the year the home ceased to
sale of your home.
be your principal residence, using
4. If you can exclude all of the gain,
Form 5405, First-Time Homeyou do not need to report the sale
buyer Credit and Repayment of
on your tax return.
the Credit. The full amount of the
5. If you have a gain that cannot be
credit is reflected as additional tax
excluded, it is taxable. You must
on that year’s tax return.
report it on Form 1040, Schedule
10. When you move, be sure to update
D, Capital Gains and Losses.
your address with the IRS and the
6. You cannot deduct a loss from the
U.S. Postal Service to ensure you
sale of your main home.
receive refunds or correspondence
7. Worksheets are included in Publifrom the IRS. Use Form 8822,
cation 523, Selling Your Home, to
Change of Address, to notify the
help you figure the adjusted basis
IRS of your address change.
of the home you
sold, the gain (or
loss) on the sale,
and the gain that
you can exclude.
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8. If you have more
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you can exclude
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Tax Corner
Five “Social” Ways
To Get Tax Information
If you use your smart phone to
work smarter or you prefer social
media resources over hard copy documents, check out the ways the Internal
Revenue Service delivers the latest
information on tax changes, initiatives, products and services through
social media.
1. IRS2Go The IRS launched a
smart phone application this year that
lets you interact with the IRS using
your mobile device. The mobile application can help you get your refund
status and tax updates. IRS2Go is
available for the iPhone or iTouch and
the Android.
2. YouTube The IRS has video
channels on YouTube with short,
informative videos on various tax-related topics. The videos are in English,
American Sign Language and a variety
of foreign languages.
3. Twitter IRS tweets include
tax-related announcements, news for
tax professionals and updates for job
seekers. Follow us @IRSnews.
4. Audio files for Podcasts These
short audio recordings provide us