We go married after I sold my home in October 2025. Turbo tax is not allowing the 250k capital gains deduction if we attempt to file married jointly.
Before 10/2027 - I owned my own home and it was my primary residence for over 20 years and my new wife owned her own home and has been her primary home for over 20 years.
Turbo tax is indicating we can not take the deduction. Maybe because we were forced to call the current home our primary address. (for me only 2 months).
I can file married separately and it seems to work but turbo tax should ask the right questions to determine that we have our own homes before we got married. And allow us to sell them as we each met the 2 year + minimum and the primary residence not use for other purposes such as renting them.
Additionally we are planning to sell my spouses home within a year a purchase a new home. Preferably in mid 2026. My spouse should be allowed to have the 250k deduction on her house.
- Are you in TurboTax Online, or are you on Desktop?
We are using the Desktop TurboTax Premier 2025.
- What version, or product are you in?
025.000.0273
- What section are you trying to post?
Wages and Income sale of home.
- What are the details of your problem or calculation error?
Married filing jointly does not allow the 250k deduction for a single home for newly weds with separate primary homes.
Turbo tax does not seem to allow us to sell the home my spouse owns within 2 years of my home.
Note: Additionally we have a prenup that allows each of us to keep the profits of our homes as separate property.
The IRS does allow us to sell 2 homes within a year if they were owned separately, one of us lived in the home for 2 years + and was the primary home (not rented etc).
If we sold a home we both lived meeting the same and filed jointly we could deduct up 500k in capital gains.
