Capital Gains Partial Exclusion

[runrunhans]

IRS Pub 523 lists five unforeseeable events and then leaves the the door open for more by saying "An event is determined to be an unforeseeable event in IRS published guidance." Where can I find this guidance?

We bought a house in Florida and moved from Missouri to Florida in early March 2021 because of my physical discomforts from my chemotherapy and needed recuperation and less adversity of the cold climate in Missouri from these discomforts. In the following year and a half after the Florida move, I completed my recuperation and afterwards our daughter in Missouri needed more assistance with our autistic granddaughter and the need for her take a teaching position for her to help her family's financial situation. Therefore my wife and I sold our Florida at the end of May 2024 to move back to Missouri to help our daughter's family situations.

Would the IRS accept this as an unforeseeable event? 

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

You seem to meet the regular rule without needing special circumstances.

1. You owned the Florida home at least 2 years (March 2021-May 2024 is 3 years plus a bit), and

2. you lived in the Florida home as your main home for at least 2 years of the past 5 years prior to the sale (looking back from May 2024 to May 2019, you lived in the home as your main home at least 731 days of that period).

[rjs · Accepted solution]

Based on what Opus 17 said, you seem to qualify for the full exclusion, not just a partial exclusion. I think that's what he means by "the regular rule." And you don't need any special justification.