I'm trying to figure out why it's showing $0 owed in H&R Block's software and I just stumbled across information related to capital gains tax rates. I noticed that for Single or Married Filing Separately filers, the capital gains tax rate is 0% if you made under $40,000 ($53,600 for Head of Household). My wife only made $36,000 last year. Would this mean she does not have to pay capital gains on the $270,000 she made from the sale of her house?
Since we just got married last year, she filed as Single/HoH the year before and it was her house alone. This is the first year we're filing Married Jointly. Combined, we made about $130,000. Since technically we both have a $250,000 exclusion, does that mean the system/the IRS looks at our incomes separately to determine the capital gains tax rates?
