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Jren25
Returning Member

Sale of Main home and rental (used to be main) on same year

1- How to report sale of two homes in same year?

2- Do I qualify for capital gain exclusion on both sales?

Situation: 

married filling jointly both owned both homes.

Home 1: Was primary residence, both lived there 2 of last 5 yrs and owned more than 2 yrs. Converted to rental, rented for about a year and sold at beginning of 2024. There was capital gain. Received form 1099-S

Home 2: Main home after previous home (1), lived there less than 2 yrs, sold it mid year due to change in jobs (more than 50 miles, different state). So about 4 months between sale of previous home. There is also capital gains. Received form 1099-S.

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5 Replies
KrisD15
Employee Tax Expert

Sale of Main home and rental (used to be main) on same year

2. If Married Filing Jointly, you will be limited to taking the Exclusion of Capital Gain on only one house. 

If Married Filing Separately, it would be possible for you each to take an Exclusion of Capital Gain on one of the homes, however the exclusion would only apply to the gain for that Taxpayer. If you each were 50% owners, the exclusion would only apply to 50% of the gain for each separate spouse on the house sale they claimed. In addition, Home two would only be eligible for a partial exclusion since it was lived in less than two years. 

It would depend on percentage of ownership and the amount of the gain for each house, but most likely filing Jointly and claiming one sale would be more advantageous.  (If Home 2 was sold in 2024 and Home 1 in 2025, the exclusion of gain would be taken for tax year 2025)

 

PLEASE NOTE, THE SALE OF HOME 1 will involve depreciation recapture whether the exclusion to capital gains applies or not. Depreciation recapture is treated as ordinary income and taxed at your regular tax rate. Since it was only rented one year, the recapture will be small, yet still needs to be considered.

 

 

"Converted to rental, rented for about a year and sold at beginning of 2025."

1- How to report sale of two homes in same year?

 

Which tax year, 2025 or 2024? 

Were both homes sold in 2024 or 2025, or different years?

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Jren25
Returning Member

Sale of Main home and rental (used to be main) on same year

@KrisD15  Both homes were sold in 2024 (sorry for confusion, I have edited original post). One around Jan and the other around July. Both have similar capital gains, home 1 about 90K home 2 about 120K. I thought second home would also qualify for deduction since it was sold due to job change. 
In TT if I enter both homes in sale of main home section and for the second home I enter the information it seems to also take the deduction. Then when I work on the disposition of the asset questionary it asks me if I want to work on the Home sale worksheet for the sale of the rental and ask which of the 2. Then I select the rental and it just seems to modify the worksheet by asking me to allocate land and actual home. So, two follow up questions:

3- is this the correct way to enter the information (especially for the rental)

4- are you sure both homes don’t qualify for exclusion since second home was sold due to special circumstances (changing job)? TT seems to suggest they do, unless I’m entering info incorrectly. Also I have seen other posts that suggest a second home would qualify under special circumstances like this one. 
appreciate clarification. Thanks in advance 

Jren25
Returning Member

Sale of Main home and rental (used to be main) on same year

@KrisD15 forgot to answer about the ownership. Yes both are 50% on both homes. Follow up question. 
5- if we were to go the filling separate route, how do we report the sale of the rental in that case? Do we just divide everything by two? What about the sale of assets reporting?

6- what about other rentals (we have 2 more)  TT has been tracking under joint return? Do we just split all by 2 and split the tracking? Thanks 

KrisD15
Employee Tax Expert

Sale of Main home and rental (used to be main) on same year

Home 2 could qualify for partial exclusion because of job change, however the exclusion can only be used once every two years per taxpayer. 

 

3.     Normally the sale of the rental would be reported in the rental section only HOWEVER this will not address the exclusion to capital gains (since the program will only see this as sale of rental and not eligible for the exclusion to capital gain).  You don't enter the sale in more than one section in TurboTax. 

With that said, enter the information (2024 income and expenses) for the rental and select that it was converted to personal use. Do the same for any additional assets entered for that rental. 

That takes the rental off Schedule E. 

Continue and report the sale under 

Wages & Income 

Less Common Income

Sale of Home (gain or loss) 

(which sounds like that is what you did) 

You would have adjusted the basis by adding the remaining value of the assets (if there were any) and subtracting any depreciation for the one year of rental. 

 

Home two sale would also be entered under 

Wages & Income 

Less Common Income

Sale of Home (gain or loss) 

 

When entering the sale, the program asks if there was or will be a second sale within two years. Since you did sell both within two years, you would select "Yes" and continue. In this situation the program will not give you an exclusion to gain for both sales. 

 

4.     Home 2 is not a second home. The exclusion is not offered on second homes. Home 2 is your "other primary home". 

Each home would qualify as your main home, but the exclusion can only be taken once every two years.

 

5.     Since you would need to split the exclusion 50%, (because you each own 50% of both properties) and the total gain is not more than the limit, there would be no advantage to you filing separately. Additionally, filing separately can eliminate certain credits you might be eligible for. 

 

Example- You made 90,000 on home 1 and 120,000 on Home 2. 

Home 2 will only get partial exclusion, but regardless, for the example lets say the entire 120,000 is eligible. 

If you filed separately, and each owns 50%, Taxpayer would get 45,000 exclusion on Home 1 and Spouse of Taxpayer would get 60,000 on home 2 resulting in 105,000 exclusion.

If you filed jointly, and home 2 was qualified, you would claim the exclusion on home 2 resulting in 120,000 exclusion. 

AGAIN, home 2 will be only partial in your situation.

 

Since the gain is not the same on both homes, claiming 50% of the higher and 50% of the lower will be less that 100% of the higher gain. 

 

6.     Filing separately is not advantageous to you, so splitting rentals would not be necessary . 

 

According to the IRS:

“You may take the exclusion, whether maximum or partial, only on the sale of a home that is your principal residence, meaning your main home.”

 

“If you didn't sell another home during the 2-year period before the date of sale (or, if you did sell another home during this period, but didn't take an exclusion of the gain earned from it), you meet the look-back requirement. You may take the exclusion only once during a 2-year period.”

 

“You can meet the requirements for a partial exclusion if the main reason for your home sale was a change in workplace location, a health issue, or an unforeseeable event.”

 

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Jren25
Returning Member

Sale of Main home and rental (used to be main) on same year

@KrisD15 @regarding this part: “When entering the sale, the program asks if there was or will be a second sale within two years. Since you did sell both within two years, you would select "Yes" and continue. In this situation the program will not give you an exclusion to gain for both sales.

How do I answer that for Home 1 (the rental) it seems if I answer Yes and then again Yes for Home 2, the program does not give exclusion for any of the two. Do I answer no for Home 1 and then Yes for Home 2 (referring to the home I already got the exclusion)? If I understand correctly we should get full exclusion on home 1 and only partial exclusion on home 2 (due to sale due to job change)? Thanks

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