Qualification for capital gain excursion on home sales

[ccthealias]

I am trying to understand the qualification of my home sale from Capital Gain excursion.

I have a house in NYC where I lived from   2009 until August 2022 then as of Sept, I have moved to NJ, updated Drivers license, file NJ state tax as residence.  The home has been used as a rental starting Nov 2022 and I just ask  the tenant to vacant the home.   (lets assume they are gone by Dec 2024)  In order to claim this as a primary home, do I have to close the sales of this house by August 2025? Or do I have the ability to treat this home as a primary home from Jan - Aug 2025 since I no longer rent it out and use for per personal purpose.  Also the home is 10 mins from my husband's work.  Does it provide qualification as a primary home?  We still fly as NYC non residence since he works out of NYC.

[rjs · Accepted solution]

You can't "claim" a home as your primary home. What qualifies as your primary home is determined by the facts and circumstance. It's only your primary home if you actually live there as your primary home. But you live in New Jersey, not New York, so your home in New Jersey is your primary home. And you can have only one primary home. If the home in New York is no longer a rental, it's a second home, not your primary home. To make it your primary home now, or in 2025, you would have to move back to the New York home.