Long term capital gains use to pay mortgage

[Fabio Aparicio]

I live in Texas and just sold a property (a piece of land in a rural area) after owning it for more than 20 years in Florida. If I use the capital gains to pay part of the mortgage on my primary residence, can I avoid/defer the capital gains taxes that way?

[DoninGA]

No, capital gains cannot be deferred in that way.  The only way to defer capital gains is if you use a 1031 exchange for the property.