@AmeliesUncle
In general, I would have said the same thing, except that after reading the instructions in table 3 of publication 523, this use would not be included as “non-qualified“. That raises an interesting question — if a taxpayer relies on the instructions in the official IRS publications, and the instructions turned out to be faulty, could they use the instructions as a perfect defense? Alternatively, our understanding of non-qualified use is incorrect.
Additionally, any period of time before the rules changed in 2008 would not be considered non-qualified use even if your understanding is generally correct, so it also depends on how long the family has owned the vacation home.
And of course, this entire discussion assumes that the tax laws and the instructions won’t change in the next 12 years, which is a pretty far-reaching assumption.
