A New Twist for Home Sales
With the advent of the home sale gain exclusion back in the 1990s, taxpayers have been using that provision of the law in a popular strategy to exclude gain, not just from their primary residence but from rentals and second homes as well.
They do that by moving into and making the rental or second home their primary residence for two years, then selling it and excluding the gain, up to $250,000 ($500,000 for joint filers).
To qualify for the exclusion, each taxpayer must own and occupy the home as his primary residence for two of the five years prior to the sale and not utilize the exclusion in the two years immediately preceding the sale. Thus, with careful planning, taxpayers could employ this technique on multiple properties.
Apparently, this strategy became too popular, and Congress included a provision in the recently enacted Housing Assistance Act of 2008 to curtail gain exclusion attributable to periods of ownership when the property was not the taxpayer’s primary residence. The new law accomplishes this by prorating the home sale gain between qualified and nonqualifed use periods and allowing the home gain exclusion to apply only to gain from qualified periods.
The law does provide a taxpayer with a beneficial definition of nonqualified use. A period of nonqualified use means any period during which the property is not used by the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse or former spouse as a principal residence, except as noted below. For purposes of determining periods of nonqualified use, do not include any period:
o Before January 1, 2009;
o After the last date the property is used as the principal residence of the taxpayer or spouse (regardless of use during that period); and
o Not to exceed two years that the taxpayer is temporarily absent by reason of a change in place of employment, health, or, to the extent provided in regulations, unforeseen circumstances.
If your planning strategies include employing multiple sales, each qualifying for the home sale exclusion, you should carefully analyze the impact of this new law on your plans. Please call this office if you have any questions.
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