@AmeliesUncle wrote:
@Opus 17 wrote:
If job 2 is more than 50 miles from your old home, then job 2 would qualify you to claim the partial exclusion when you sold the old home. There is no specific time frame required in the law (for example, the law does not require you to have job 2 lined up before you sell the old home).
I disagree. If you are claiming the 50 mile "safe harbor", one of the requirements is "The change in place of employment occurs during the period of the taxpayer's ownership and use of the property as the taxpayer's principal residence".
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.121-3#c
OK, that is the requirement that (in this case) the taxpayer would have to have job 2 lined up before selling the old home.
Note that pub 523 says you qualify if "You had no previous work location and you began a new job at least 50 miles from the home." That would apply to job 2. But I agree that in order to claim the partial exclusion, they have to have job 2 lined up before the sale (job 2 has to be one of the reasons for the sale). Moving without job 2 and taking job 2 later to make ends meet does not qualify for the partial exclusion because the taxpayer didn't move because of the job.
The taxpayer here did not specify when they took job 2, but reading between the lines, I think it is likely they took it later and therefore don't qualify.
